y°r« mi r ! ^a»iK'!ism^ > >>'ST^TOr'T; : 




w w Mmmm t tmmmmMuu 



^mmxmm 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



# 



a 



THE RELIGION 



SPI RITUALISM 



Phenomena and Philosophy, 



BY 



Author of " Clock Struck One, Two, and Three" 
THIRTY-SIX YEARS A METHODIST MINISTER, 



NEW YORK: 

Printed for the A uthor by m 

Edward O. Jenkins, 20 North William Street. 
1880. 






1>V 






COPYRIGHT, l88o, BY 
SAMUEL WATSON, 



1 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO MY SPIRIT BAND, MY TWO WIVES, 

MOLLIE AND ELLEN. WITH THE FORMER NEAR A QUARTER OF 

A CENTURY OF HAPPY WEDDED LIFE WAS SPENT. WITH 

THE LATTER ABOUT HALF THAT TIME, IN THE MOST 

PERFECTLY HARMONIOUS RELATIONS. BOTH HAVE 

AN ABIDING INTEREST IN THIS VOLUME, AS 

WELL AS THE BAND WHO ORIGINATED 

AND SUPERVISED ITS COMPILATION. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

"HARMONY OF RELIGIONS." 

Births, Histories, and Deaths of Messiahs; Extract from 
Rev. Charles Beecher ; The Church and the World need 
Proof of Immortality . . 29 

CHAPTER II. 

"HARMONY OF RELIGIONS." — {Coiltiliued). 

Confucius ; Chrishna ; First Investigations 36 

CHAPTER III. 

BIBLICAL TESTIMONY. 

Teachings of Jesus; Fatherhood of God and the Brother- 
hood of Man 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

WRITING MEDIUMS. 

Dr. J. V. Mansfield ; Independent Slate Writing. . ; , 50 

CHAPTER V. 

Phenomena. — {Continued). 

Biblical Table Service. ; Writing on the wall of the King's 
Palace ; Elijah's Letter to Jehoram 58 

CHAPTER VI. 

MATERIALIZATION. 

Nature's Teaching ; Matter Evanescent ; Personal Experi- 
ence at Home ; Materialization of Washington ; Baptism 
of Child 65 

(5) 



6 Contents. 

CHAPTER VII. 

BIBLE PROOF. 

Dr. J. M. Peebles ; Rev. Thomas Colley's Experience in 
London ; Spirit Philosophy 81 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Christianity— Spiritualism— Science ioo 

CHAPTER IX. 

PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT CONTROL — ILLUSTRATED BY SCIENCE. 

Magnetism, Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, Psychology, Bi- 
ology ; Extract from Mrs. Richmond's Lecture ; Mate- 
rialization 109 

CHAPTER X. 

BIBLICAL PROOF OF SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS. 

Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, etc, ; Communication from 
Robert Dale Owen 125 

CHAPTER XL 

BI BLICAL HISTORY. 

Fall of Adam not referred to in the Pentateuch, or the 
Teachings of Jesus 1 38 

CHAPTER XII. 

RELIGION OF JESUS. 

Judge Edmonds ; Dr. J. M. Peebles 147 

CHAPTER XIII. 

FAITH AND WORKS. 

"For as the Body without the Spirit, so Faith without 
Works is Dead also/' — James ii. 26 160 

CHAPTER XIV. 

DEATH OR TRANSITION, AND WHAT FOLLOWS. 

Hell ; A Beggar ; William C. Robinson ; Quotations from 
Mr. Wesley, by a Bishop 168 



Contents. 7 

CHAPTER XV. 

DOES PROBATION TERMINATE WITH EARTH-LIFE? 

" Spirits in Prison " ; Spirit Laws ; Recompense 180 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE RESURRECTION. 

Mr. Wesley's Views ; Jesus' Teachings ; Paul's ; Rev. Dr. 
D. C. Kelly ; Bishop Foster 189 

CHAPTER XVII. 

SPIRIT-WORLD. 

Communication to Dr. Peebles ; Bishop Otey ; Rev. T. P. 
Davidson 209 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

LAW OF RECOMPENSE. 

Immutable Law fixes the Place and State of All 225 

CHAPTER XIX. 

MYSTERY'S COMMUNICATIONS. 

Family Bethel ; Harmony ; Spirits' Destiny 233 

CHAPTER XX. 

REV. JOHN MOSS, LATE PRESIDING ELDER OF THE MEMPHIS 

DISTRICT. 

Entrance to Spirit-Life; Faith; A Memphian; Rev. John 
Manly 's Communication 259 

CHAPTER XXI. 

SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 

E. C. Slater, D.D. ; Works; Prayer 278 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Rev. P. T. Scruggs' Views of Resurrection ; Judge Hall ; 
Higher Life 289 



8 Contents. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 

R. W. Slew's Entrance to Spirit-Life; Employment; Rev. 
*G. W. D. Harris ; Rev. J. D. Andrews 299 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

PLAIN TALK FROM AN OLD FRIEND. 

Rev. Moses Brock, P. E. of Memphis District ; S. D. Bald- 
win 306 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Communications from Theodore Parker, Cyrus Jeffries, 
Hannah More, and Abbie E. Lansing. 315 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Communications through Mrs. Robinson, Philadelphia — 
Rev. Jesse B, Ferguson ; S. P. Kase 324 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Opposition to Spiritualism Unreasonable — The Church's 
Past and Present 333 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Communications received through Dr. J. V. Mansfield — A 
Remarkable Test — Spirit Control, and Quotation from a 
Closed Book— Another Remarkable Test 344 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

HOME CIRCLES. 

Gone Before — From our First-born— Spirit-wife's Advice 
to us — Vital Questions Asked and Answerec] — From 
Judge Hall — -Spirit Homes — -Closing Communication 
from our Band — From Jesse B. Ferguson — "Come and 
let us Reason Together " 351 

Appendix 7 . . 389 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OF 

REV. SAMUEL WATSON. 
By Hudson Tuttle. 

[From the Religio-Philosophical Journal]. 



The attention of Spiritualists was first earnestly drawn to 
Mr. Watson by the publication of the two volumes, " The 
Clock Struck One" and "The Clock Struck Three." These 
volumes made a profound sensation on the class to whom they 
were addressed. To the Methodist Church he was well known 
by a long life devoted to its ministry. So well established was 
he with the Church at large and his own congregation, that his 
open avowal of his belief in Spiritualism did not at first cause, 
as would have been supposed, either his dismissal or censure. 
He went right on in his teachings, supporting himself with the 
Bible, and carrying his church partially forward with him. The 
result of his investigation of Spiritualism is a fine illustration of 
the power of truth over the receptive, unprejudiced mind. If 
a man will allow himself to think, and receive the results of his 
thinking without prejudice, he will be led, even against his will, 
in the path of accurate knowledge. He may blunder ; he may 
at times go astray into by-lanes and diverging alleys, but he 
will ultimately burst through all restraint, and seek the truth 
as unerringly as the magnet points to the pole. 

Mr. Watson was a minister of the Methodist Church for 
thirty-six years, active, laborious, and more than usually 
respected and honored. His education and prejudice inclined 
i* (9) 



io Biographical Sketch. 

him in that direction. His distinction had been acquired in 
the ranks of that Church, and to renounce its doctrines was the 
sacrifice of all pecuniary advantages and the fair name he had 
reared by a life-time of devotion. Had the decision been 
pressed upon him at first, perhaps the result would have been 
different. The actual metal of the soui is rarely tested. We 
are insensibly led forward, step by step, and the victory is* 
achieved before we are aware. The Divinity guides our aims 
and our purposes to His own grander schemes. The method 
by which Mr. Watson was impelled onward to his present, posi- 
tion, of itself affords a deeply interesting study, and yet 
more remarkable, while he is a declared Spiritualist, and has 
not lost, except in some bigoted quarters, the least prestige by 
the open declaration of his belief. Indeed, it would appear 
that he gives expression to the views and experiences of a 
majority of the church to which he is endeared by his long 
ministry. 

Samuel Watson was born in Maryland, August io, 1813. 
He received a strict religious education, and at an early age 
became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In- 
'clined by disposition and sense of duty to the ministry, he was 
in 1836, at the age of twenty-three, received into the Tennessee 
Annual Conference, and appointed to the Wayne Circuit. In 

1837 he was removed to the Franklin Circuit in Alabama. In 

1838 he was stationed in Clarksville, Tennessee, and in 1839 
in Memphis, where he was continued as long as the discipline 
would permit. In 1842 and 1843 ne was agent of the Ameri- 
can Bible Society for North Mississippi and West Tennessee, 
after which he was returned to Memphis and vicinity, where 
for thirty-three years he was officially kept by the Church. 

He, from the beginning, believed in the ministration of 
angels, whom he regards as identical with spirits. He found 
his belief supported by the Bible, the history of the Church, and 
by her shining lights. Whether he accepted the "modern 
manifestations " at the time he first began the* controversy 



Biographical Sketch. ii 

which resulted in his public avowal, we are not informed ; 
though it would appear from certain passages that he not only 
discarded, but was highly prejudiced against them. That con- 
troversy began by Mr. Watson writing an article for the Mem- 
phis Appeal, on the often observed coincidence of the striking 
of a clock and the death of a member of the family, in which 
he affirmed the truthfulness of the statements and his belief in 
the supernatural origin of the occurrences. On four several 
occasions in his own family, an old clock had struck one, and 
the omen had been speedily followed by a death in his house- 
hold. He introduced such an array of facts, and these so well 
authenticated, that Dr. Bond felt constrained to reply in the 
St. Louis Christian Advocate, wherein he swept away all such 
omens as childish superstitions, and pronounced them highly 
dangerous and antagonistic to the best interests of the Church. 
Several articles were exchanged, in each of which Mr. Watson, 
although triumphantly vindicating his position, was driven step 
by step to the broader admission of the facts of Spiritualism. 
We are inclined to suspect that he had, during this interval, 
studied the phenomena which lay so exactly in his path of 
thought, and furnished him with invulnerable weapons. Yet 
he did not introduce them at that stage of the discussion, but 
repeatedly disclaimed the taunt of his antagonist that he 
inclined in that direction. 

At length Mr. Watson became too strong for his opponent. 
If he did not state its facts, the moral support they gave made 
him a giant. If David puts truth in his sling, Goliah is no 
match for him. The consequence was, that his final reply was 
rejected, and thus ostracised, he arduously applied himself to 
his vindications. Not content with his former conservative 
efforts, he entered the forbidden domain of Spiritualism, and 
gladly accepted the facts he there discovered. " The Clock 
Struck One," a happy title drawn from his first attempt to show 
the supernatural character of the occurrence, was the result. 
It breathes from every page the spirit of a calm, Christian 



i2 Biographical Sketch. 

though tfulness, willing to extend the utmost freedom of opinion 
to all, and demanding the same. Unless repression reaches 
annihilation, it can not permanently thwart the vigor of the 
mind. Mr. Watson was one of thousands of ministers devoted, 
zealous, and loved by a circle of friends. As such he would 
have lived and died. The Church undertook to check the cur- 
rent of his thoughts, and made him a hero. Instead of the 
Church, he now has the whole world for an audience. He 
would have been satisfied with the publication of a magazine 
article, but a Power wiser than he knew made his disappoint- 
ment subservient to far nobler achievements. 

The angels of the Bible are ministering spirits, who, te from 
their very nature and constitution, are best adapted to the work 
of guardianship and ministration, and the work is best adapted 
to their growth and development." Such guardianship is una- 
vailing unless the spirits can communicate with those they pro- 
tect. That they can do so, he proves by the Bible, the 
ancients, and the fathers and leaders of the Church. Having 
thus fortified himself with authority, he brings forward the heavy 
artillery of modern phenomena, held in reserve. He would 
not indorse the manifestations given at public circles, regard- 
ing the rappings as a humbug, until forced on his attention by 
rappings and spirit- writing in his own family. He felt the 
presence of spirits and conversed with them, yet he remained 
in doubt of the reality of Spiritualism. His educational preju- 
dices stood in his way, and an article he published at that time 
gives a doubtful sound. He believes in spirit communion, but 
discards the manifestations. 

In 1853 ne continued his investigation of Spiritualism. Be- 
lieving it to be the " prince of humbugs," he endeavored to 
detect and expose it. Through the mediumship of a colored 
servant-girl in his family, he was first convinced that the phe- 
nomena could not be explained by any law of physics or meta- 
physics with which he was acquainted. 

These manifestations occurring in his house were similar to 



Biographical Sketch. 13. 

those which occurred in the Wesley family for many years. An 
account of them, written by him, was published in Memphis. 

In 1855 a circle was organized in Memphis, composed of 
twelve persons ; five physicians, u standing at the head of their 
profession," three " ministers " and several influential laymen. 
" The head of the Episcopal Church in Tennessee was our 
leader. The medium was a native born Memphian, an honest, 
pious young lady, a member of the Baptist Church." 

We have not space to record the varied and astonishing 
manifestations, physical and psychic, that transpired at this 
circle, which was always opened with prayer. In only one in- 
stance did they receive any communications contrary to ortho- 
dox doctrines. This remarkable one was that spirits had an 
opportunity for repentance in the future. The communica- 
tions received by this circle, when the circumstances under 
which they were given are considered, are among the most 
remarkable on record. We must remember that the members 
were strictly orthodox and conservative, and had the whole 
truth been bluntly told by the communicating spirit, they would 
have at once discarded it. Although that spirit, signing him- 
self " Mystery," did not write one word conflicting with their 
preconceived ideas, except in the one instance mentioned, he 
taught them the essential principles of Spiritualism as distinctly 
as ever was pronounced to a circle of liberals ! The style in 
which he wrote is terse and elegant, and remarkable for its 
directness. We regard this circle as among the most scien- 
tifically formed and conducted. The essential conditions for 
success were instituted, unconsciously perhaps, and the results 
corresponded. The circle was formed of intelligent, honest, 
and thoughtful persons ; the medium was equally intelligent 
and moral. There were no mercenary motives involved. 
They met with the sincerest desire to arrive at truth. They 
opened with prayer, which, in their minds, produced a harmony 
no other agency could establish. To them the Spirit-world 
was a mystery, awful in its dread sublimity, and they trans- 



i4 Biographical Sketch, 

ferred to it a portion of their religious reverence. Had all 
circles been thus happily organized and conducted, how much 
Spiritualism would have gained in dignity and how much less 
would be heard of the follies and deceptions of " Diakka." 

When convinced, as he soon became, Mr. Watson was not 
a man to conceal his light under a bushel, nor to play the 
hypocrite. With a fearlessness that has few parallels, he went 
into his pulpit and announced his belief. This created a great 
sensation in the church and community. Writers of the several 
secular papers engaged him in controversy upon the subject, 
by which he became known all over the country as an avowed 
Spiritualist. His opinions were known to the Bishop and the 
members of the Memphis Annual Conference generally, who, 
while they differed from him, never let that interfere with their 
personal or official relations. This was shown by his being 
elected the editor of their Church organ, the Memphis Christian 
Advocate, and by his Conference electing him as a delegate to 
the General Conference in 1857. The, highest tribunal of the 
Church elected him for four years longer to the editorship of 
the same paper, which official relation was continued till t866. 
During his term of service, this paper, which had sank some 
ten or twelve thousand dollars, and was several thousand more 
indebted, by its increased circulation paid off all its indebted- 
ness and current expenses. While thus serving the Church he 
accepted the Presidency of the State Female College, near the 
city. This was perhaps the most prosperous period of that in- 
stitution (1859-60) the number of its scholars being 220. 

In 1865 he was again elected delegate to the General Con- 
ference which met in New Orleans in 1866. He served four 
years as Presiding Elder of Memphis, the most important dis- 
trict in his Conference. 

In 1868, the Bishops, at their annual meeting, appointed 
him editor of the Christian Index, which was confirmed by the 
General Conference which met in Memphis in 1870. He con- 
tinued to edit this paper until his withdrawal from the Church, 



Biographical Sketch. 15 

in 1872. The summer of 1873 ne spent in Europe with Cooke's 
educational party. On his return, he published a narrative of 
travels, entitled "A Memphian's Trip to Europe/' which has 
had an extensive circulation. 

In 1874 he published " The Clock Struck Three/' which 
has been, with " The Clock Struck One," transferred to the 
Religio- Philosophical Publishing House. In 1875 ne com- 
menced the publication of the Spiritual Magazine, which, dur- 
ing the three years of its existence, has more than met the ex- 
pectations of its founder; advocating, as he always has done, 
Spiritualism of a conservative character, and from a primitive 
Christian stand-point. Since the first State organization in 
Tennessee, he has been the President, and also of the local or- 
ganization in Memphis. 

In 1842 Mr. Watson married Mary A. Dupee, with whom 
he lived happily for nearly a quarter of a century. In 1867 he 
married Mrs. Ellen Perkins, with whom he is now living. In 
both of these alliances he regards himself as blessed. He has 
twelve children in the Spirit-world, nine of whom passed away 
in childhood. For many years he has held what he calls a 
home circle for the purpose of conversing with them and his 
first wife in a holy family reunion. 

He is at present lecturing on Spiritualism, taking still more 
advanced grounds than that occupied by his publications, and 
a brief criticism of their contents will form a fitting conclusion 
to this brief sketch : 

The first part of u The Clock Struck Three " is devoted to 
the reviews and their answers evoked by the preceding ; hav- 
ing finished which, Mr. Watson declares he is " done with 
them. Progression being the universal law of material, as well 
as spiritual subjects, they, having accomplished their mission, 
must give place to other and more important phases of the sub- 
ject." We feel this declaration marks a new era in the on- 
ward march of a religious mind toward untrammeled thought, 
and are made fully conscious of that fact by his bolder utter- 



1 6 Biographical Sketch. 

ance. The Methodist Church has marked him for a heretic 
because he supports the belief of Wesley, and persecution has a 
wonderful liberalizing influence. 

The second, and by far the most valuable portion of this 
volume, is- devoted to showing the harmony between Christian- 
ity, Science, and Spiritualism. When we learn that by Chris- 
tianity he does " not mean all that we hear from the pulpit as 
such," nor the creeds and catechisms of the Churches, which 
disagree among themselves, nor any special interpretation of 
the Bible, we rate not his task as difficult. Between science 
and Spiritualism there is no conflict, and neither meets opposi- 
tion in a religion which is another name for moral science. 
This portion is a valuable exposition of Spiritualism. Never 
were words more golden than the following : 

" Every individual who would understand the truths of the 
Spirit-world, must be his or her own medium. God must write 
His law upon their understanding and put it in their affections. 
If you want to become mediums for interior communication, 
you must become absolutely true in every thought, feeling, and 
affection — become absolutely just in all your relations of life, 
so that morning, noon, and night you will be inquiring and 
thirsting after righteousness." . ..." If Spiritualism, in 
its faith and effects, does not tend to make you better, wiser, 
and purer — holier men and women — as St. Paul says of the 
Corinthians, it will < profit you nothing.' That Spiritualism 
which will not redeem you will not be sufficient to redeem the 
world." 

Mr. Watson would have the cause freed from the excres- 
cences which obstruct it. He would at once have it noble, 
dignified, and truly spiritual. Then he feels assured that 
churches would accept the unlimited power it can bestow. It 
will bring harmony, and proclaim to all the certainty of future 
life. " The vanities, riches, and honors of earth sink into utter 
insignificance when compared with the real happiness enjoyed 
by our friends who have ' passed over the river/ What the 



Biographical Sketch. 17 

world has so much dreaded — the separation of soul and body- 
is but a delightful repose and a glorious awakening to everlast- 
ing joy, and the fruition of all we are capable of enjoying," 

Mr. Watson does not engage in a polemic discussion in his 
effort to show the harmony between science, Christianity, and 
Spiritualism. He takes the direct method, producing an over- 
whelming array of facts, and showing that these tend to the 
only true and rational philosophy of future life. 

Throughout these volumes we are constantly reminded that 
the author has been a strict believer in the dogmas of the 
Church. He can not be expected to have escaped suddenly 
from the influence of almost half a century's education. His 
view is from that direction, and his phraseology is that of the 
divinity student rather than of the scientist, Often he conceals 
startling and new ideas beneath the old wording, thus commit- 
ting the sin of pouring new wine into old bottles. For all this 
he is most excusable, for it is not strange he commits such 
errors ; rather, that he commits so few of them. Only one in 
thousands are brave enough to take his position, and patiently 
bear the sacrifice of all the honors acquired by life -long labor. 
His manly course will be productive of great good, for there 
are thousands of church members who will thoughtfully con- 
sider a subject which has been sanctioned by one whom they 
have regarded as a shining light, and they will be led up to the 
heights where he now stands. According to his showing, the 
extension of Spiritualism among the laity and ministers of his 
Church is almost incredible. The most orthodox families have 
mediums in their midst, and hold private circles, at which their 
ministers communicate with the angel world. It is true, few 
have the bravery to openly avow their belief, yet silently, un- 
consciously, it permeates the thoughts of all, and tinges the 
prayer and the sermon. 

What is most admirable and charming in these volumes, is 
the calm spirit of goodness, the depth of fraternal love, the 
catholicity of thought, which pervades them. Nothing disturbs 



1 8 Biographical Sketch. 

the serenity of the author. His soul, by the presence and 
communication of the departed, is entirely uplifted from the 
pettiness of earth, and he feels that he advocates doctrines too 
vital to be trifled with, and to mention in flippant phrase. Only 
when he speaks of the deceptions, impositions, and errors 
which cover themselves with the shining mantle of Spiritualism, 
does he employ the language of denunciation, and then he 
softens his words with charity. 

They who have been educated in the school of free thought, 
will say that Mr. Watson has yet to abandon many views he 
now holds as essential. They will charge him with clinging to 
superstition, and bringing religious tenets into the fold of lib- 
eralism. All these charges would be in a measure true, and in 
a greater measure false. He comes from one direction, the^ 
free-thinker from an exactly opposite. They see the subject 
from different points of view. Both can learn valuable lessons 
of each other. Some liberalists may even learn liberality of 
Mr. Watson, and profitably copy his perfect toleration. 

Mr. Watson is well versed in general science, and his argu- 
ments are fortified by its aid, but he evidently feels himself most 
at home on biblical ground. For thirty-six years he has taught 
from its pages, and known no higher court of appeal, and it 
would be ungenerous to criticise, because he adheres to a 
method of argument brought into the very constitution of his 
mind. We may say the Bible has no authority except that of 
truth, held in common with all books, yet as long as millions 
accept it as infallible, it becomes an invaluable ally to an un- 
popular cause. Its texts will be accepted when all other evi- 
dence will be rejected with scorn. This line of defense never 
had an abler defender that Mr. Watson. 

Every weapon in the vast arsenal is at his command. He 
leaves not a text idle. All that can be gathered from it is 
pushed to the front, and on this, his favorite ground, he is in- 
vincible. To the Church to which he belonged, he is a mis- 
sionary ; and if it is ever led onward to the green fields and 



Biographical Sketch. 19 

sweet pastures, it must be through the labors of such leaders 
and by such methods. To convince the understanding, the 
attention must first be gained, and prejudice is too strong to 
allow the truths of Spiritualism to approach in any other garb 
than biblical texts and expositions. Mr. Watson disarms criti- 
cism by his magnanimity. We comprehend his position, and 
instead of carping at his method, which would indicate a 
narrow bigotry, we would yield him all praise for the height he 
has gained. A soul so strong can not rest short of the goal. He 
has paved the way for greater endeavors. The arm of the 
nurse supports the tottering child that it may gain strength to 
support itself. Those who are led by the Bible to the accept- 
ance of the ministration of angels, will gain strength to go be- 
yond. 

The facts and communications are among the most impor- 
tant features of these volumes. The latter are characteristic 
of the author from whom they purport to emanate, and valua- 
ble for the ideas they express. Judge Edmunds had promised 
to preface the last volume, but he departed this life before he 
performed his task, and hence Mr. Watson allows him to close 
with a communication from the higher spheres. 

These volumes can not be too highly commended to Spirit- 
ualists who desire works to give to friends in the Churches. 
They are invaluable as missionary agents. The character 
of their author ; the sincerity, honesty, and integrity of his 
style ; the exquisite spirit of goodness and fraternity pervading 
their every page, will attract and hold the attention, and con- 
vince, so far as it is possible for books to convince, of the truth 
of the sublime doctrines advocated. 



INTRODUCTION 



" If a man die, shall he live again? " This is one of the 
most important questions ever propounded to man. It is one 
which has been very difficult to answer affirmatively. We 
stand around the dying couch of loved ones, and see them 
struggling with the monster, yielding at last to his power, and 
we say they are dead. We consign the quickly decaying body 
to the grave. Soon it moulders away and the gases return to 
their original elements. There is nothing to be- seen that even 
indicates that it will ever germinate or return to life again. To 
believe that it will, on any facts that appear to be within our 
reach, is impossible. We see the form utterly dissipated with- 
out the slightest prospect of its restoration. Its occupant, if 
there be one, has gone like a flash, or passed out unobserved. 
We can neither see, hear, nor feel the vanishing spirit with 
our mortal eye. Thus it has evei been with the races of man- 
kind. Through all the ages, the world has been waiting and 
watching to hear from the countless millions of earth who have 
thus passed away leaving crushed hearts to mourn, but no 
echo has come back ; silence reigns — oblivion triumphs over 
all blasted hopes. Such is life, as experience mournfully tells of 
the past, as seen from a strictly materialistic stand-point. 

As seen from its opposite, the clairvoyant beholds the loved 
ones around, waiting to welcome a new-born soul to the spirit- 
world, the real substantial mode of existence. A distinguished 
Bishop of the M, E, Church, South, says : " No vain or irrev- 

(21) 



22 Introduction. 

erent curiosity inquires here. A state so near, so certain, con- 
cerns us all. The soul would explore before entering ' the 
land of darkness ' as darkness itself. We look, we can not help 
looking, in that direction." 

In this quotation from this eminent divine we find the ad- 
mission of two facts. First, a justifiable curiosity, in looking 
or desiring to look into the future ; and second, with all the 
light shed upon this subject it is a " land of darkness " to those 
who have only the written word, which has not met the long- 
ing demands of a large class of mankind. Our object is to 
supplement this deficiency by testimony regarding the life to 
come by pointing out how, instead of -trusting to blind, un- 
reasoning faith, we can, if we will, obtain abundant positive 
evidence upon the subject, sufficient on the one hand to clear 
up all doubts which conceal the truths lying beneath the Bible 
narratives, and powerful enough to explode the metaphysical 
subtleties which have obscured this important subject. This 
evidence consists of stubborn facts, which will enable any can- 
did investigator who will carefully examine for himself the 
proofs adduced, to transcend all the fruitless speculations of 
philosophy. 

Can any one conscientiously affirm that the Bible satisfies all 
our wants in this respect ? We think not. Hence the sad and 
comfortless teachings we often hear from the pulpit and at 
funerals. There is a key that unlocks these mysteries in re- 
gard to immortality, and will afford ample comfort to the Bible 
student from the fact of its according in the main with his 
favorite authority. So far from its imperilling the Scriptures, 
it will add intensely to the interest of their perusal by spread- 
ing entirely a new light upon many Bible narratives that must 
have always appeared mysterious and inexplicable to those 
who have never known anything of communications from 
those who have passed the veil which separates the natural 
from the spirit world. This key then, which is to solve the 



Introduction. 23 

problem of immortality, and once for all settle all speculations 
on the subject, is Spiritualism, with which the Bible abounds. 
We may safely affirm that it constitutes the vitality of the 
Book, and but for which it never could have influenced the 
minds of mankind as it has done. There has been a gradual 
unfoldment of the divine government as the ages were pre- 
pared to receive it, until life and immortality were brought 
more fully to light by the life, teachings, and resurrection of 
Jesus. This latter fact is the rock on which the whole Chris- 
tian superstructure is built. There is a very striking similarity 
in the early history of Christianity and modern Spiritualism. 
They both have the key-stone to the arch which binds their sys- 
tems in the resurrection, and the materialization, and recog- 
nition of those who were once denizens of earth. We have 
devoted considerable space to this phase of manifestation, as 
it has been regarded by Paul and Spiritualists of modern time 
as the most demonstrative, and as Mr. Wesley says (Vol. IV. 
page 368, London Edition). "I willingly take this oppor- 
tunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent com- 
pliment which so many that believe the Bible pay to those 
who do not believe it. I owe them no such service. I take 
knowledge that these are at the bottom of the outcry, which 
has been raised, and with such insolence spread throughout th 
nation in direct opposition, not only to the Bible, but the suf- 
frage of the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations. 
They well know, whether Christians know it or not, that the 
giving up these things is in effect giving up the Bible. i\nd 
they know, on the other hand, that if but one account of the 
intercourse of men with separate spirits be admitted, their 
whole castle in the air — Deism, Atheism, Materialism — falls 
to the ground. I know no reason why we should suffer even 
this weapon wrested out of our hands. Indeed, there are numer- 
ous arguments besides whi« h abundantly confute their vain im- 
aginations. We need not be hooted out of one ; neither reason 



24 Introduction. 

or religion requires this." In harmony with these views rjy the 
founder of the largest Protestant Church in the world, we pro- 
ceed to give our opinions— controlled, as we believe, mainly 
by those who passed over, and know for themselves the truth 
of what they have realized in the spirit-world. 



PREFACE. 



When our spirit friends agreed to suspend the Spiritual 
Magazine in order that the Voice of Truth, a weekly, might be 
a success, they assigned me to another work. This was to 
prepare and publish a book on the " Religion of Spiritualism. " 

Having published " Clock Struck One, Two, and Three," 
and edited a monthly magazine devoted to Spiritualism, I was 
reluctant to give my consent to the undertaking. 

Having had repeated assurances from our " band," most of 
whom were preachers, that they would supervise the work, I 
entered upon it by their direction. 

I therefore claim nothing for myself — though I have written 
much of the matter it contains. I wish it distinctly understood 
that I have been used simply as an instrument through whom 
those who have passed over the river of life to communicate 
with those who remain, by impressing me to write, select, and 
arrange a book for them, 

I have used some editorials from the Magazine, giving our 
views, as clearly as we were capable, of the subject matter under 
consideration. 

I have also used matter from it sometimes without knowing 
the author, yet embodying what I have been impressed to be 
the truth. I have given those on the other side the desired 
opportunity of speaking for themselves in this volume mostly 
through our " Home Circle." 

Just before leaving home to have it published, it was written 
that they had looked over it and were " anxious to see the 
work appear." " We call it ours — we claim the authorship." 
2 (25) 



26 Preface. 

* 
Another one of our band, who, while here, was a prominent 

minister, writes : 

" I assure you, my esteemed friend and brother, we have, 
with all sanctity, truth, and ca?idor, borne the responsible posi- 
tion assigned to us by yourself. This work must speak when 
you shall have joined us on the brighter and happier shore, 
that many in consequence may call you blessed. You have, 
brother, been an instrument in our hands, and we have used 
you well." 

Desiring to have the responsibility of this book rest upon 
those who have directed in its preparation, I proposed to read 
the chapters in regular order in the presence of the medium, 
and have them control and make whatever changes they might 
see proper in it. After reading a portion of it the medium was 
controlled and the following was written : 

"Bro. Watson : — It is common for a person to endorse, or 
not, a book or any publication, after it has appeared in print, 
and I may be considered premature in expressing my opinion 
until it has been presented to the public gaze ; but I can not 
refrain from saying that it is a book which will be received, and 
very extensively approved, by the masses of orthodox believers. 

" There are but few old orthodox advocates throughout the 
world now, comparatively with the times when I was recog- 
nized as one. Yes, I was one ; but since the mortal has put on 
the immortal, I have, seen how erroneous my teachings have 
been and how defiant to change my opinion upon some sub- 
jects. The world is now waiting for you to disturb its waters, 
and then the marvelous results will ensue. It does seem so 
strange that when we see a man so occupied we can at once 
say, ' The way is clear — go ahead. 7 Go on, Brother Watson, 
you are doing all you can. The way has been made clear, and 
you have much assistance. You can soon finish up. You 
have our prayers and hearty approval. Don't become weary 
in well-doing. 

" The victory shall be yours. C. B. Parsons.'' 



Preface. 27 

" We have looked over the manuscript of your projected 
book, and find very little to which we object — very few points 
you omit — and have also ascertained the fact that you have all 
along been inspired to arrange and impressed what to strike 
out. You can better arrange it now with the aid of us, slightly 
through this medium, than we thought at first. There are 
many glorious and startling truths contained in its Heaven- 
inspired pages. It will, we think, startle only to convince and 
thrill the heart with emotions of everlasting joy. One can not 
but read and be a better man and woman. It will be calcu- 
lated to divest the mind of doubt and eradicate prejudice. 
Some will read with a profound interest, only to find the curi- 
osity greater to seek for more information on some things of 
the ■ same sort.' 

" I must not indulge too much. I am speaking not only for 
myself, but also for others. We are anxious to see it com- 
pleted and presented to the inquiring world, for, in my opin- 
ion, this book will heal the wound which has proved so hurtful 
to the doctrine which carries such a hallowed and soothing 
influence. Go on, my brother. This is the opinion of one of 
your band, and not one only, but many. E. C. Slater." 

" Samuel : — We are ready to assist you and Ellen all we can 
in the writing you have planned, and at any time 'twill suit 
your convenience. Your wish and will can bring us at any 
time. We don't think there will be many changes or much 
modifying, for you were inspired to write much of what you 
have. Now, don't think I am your critic, only as I am told by 
higher and talented spirits. It may be there will be entire 
chapters, and no changes will be made. You must not think 
it flattery, but the Heavenly inhabitants are waiting with out- 
stretched hands to receive all that may be said. They are 
assisting you. Trust them. Mollxe " 



CHAPTER I. 

HARMONY OF RELIGIONS. 

There has been an underlying truth in the sacred records 
of ancient nations. The mind of man has appropriated as 
much as its capacity was adapted to receive. He must be a 
shallow observer of human nature who attributes to superstition 
the homage and reverence that are paid by millions of human 
beings to the " sacred writings " of past ages. Mankind live 
to little purpose if the requirements of the past were sufficient 
for the present, and future generations. This world's history 
demonstrates that progress is exhibited in mental and spiritual 
knowledge, and that revelations of a diverse order have been 
given, and in due time may continue to be given to meet the 
wants and requirements of an advanced intellectual age. The 
first stages of skepticism which have always greeted theap- 
pearance of an unwelcome truth are rapidly disappearing, and 
as a leaven which ultimately will leaven the whole mass of 
humanity is now working among the intellectual classes of all 
nations. The time, we think, is coming when the teachings of 
pure spirits embodying the principles taught by Jesus, will be- 
come a mighty power to mould the thoughts and affect the 
states and destinies of nations yet unborn. Seen in the light 
of the Spiritual philosophy, the flood, and dispersion of man- 
kind, with Genesis, Exodus, and separation of peoples, together 
with the births, histories, and deaths of Messiahs, are no idle 
tales or unmeaning stories, but in fact are records of stupendous 
verities on a plane, or degree of human consciousness which 

(29) 



30 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

even yet is but dimly seen, and but little comprehended by the 
masses of mankind. 

Mistaken identity does not destroy realities, neither does 
incapacity to understand dissipate intellectual and spiritual 
facts. These abide their time and await the development of 
states, in which they will be estimated at their true value. 
They pertain to mind and spirit, and will in due time give forth 
a life which will develop and sustain an intellectuality and 
a spirituality of a higher and purer order than has heretofore 
been experienced. There can be no question or doubt as to 
the fact of the existence of cycles of human thought in the 
past ages, and that the great religious and mystic systems 
which sprang out therefrom had a beginning, and that such 
beginnings marked off in the roll of time the epochs or eras 
which then, as now, characterize the divisions of the human 
race by systems and nationalities ; but for want of a "calendar" 
and having no system of chronology, such as was afterward 
adopted, the ancients preserved the remembrance of their 
historical events by tradition, hence all chronology beyond the 
historic era is vague and uncertain. As the ecclesiastical sys- 
tems, pure in their origin, became solidified in concrete forms 
they were used to enslave and fetter the human mind, and his- 
tory is a continuous record of suffering and misery endured by 
those who, yearning for a truer and more spiritual perception 
of truth, raised a protesting voice against the prevailing sen- 
suous and materializing tendency of their day, and giving 
forth a different view of truth to those who were in authority, 
they, by resisting unto death, preserved their dearest and most 
valuable prerogative of humanity, viz, Freedom. 

The once gorgeous ecclesiasticism of ancient Egypt has be- 
come " a thing of the past." Her once magnificent temples 
and scarcely less stately tombs, with her sculptured monu- 
ments and halls covered with writings and hieroglyphics are now 
in ruins, and like their ruined remains buried in the vastest 
cemetery in the world. Egypt as a nationality, with her eccle* 



Harmony of Religions. 31 

siastical system, has passed away forever, but the spirit of ancient 
Egypt still survives amongst the nations of Europe. 

The signs of this awakening are very apparent to those who 
are not blinded by bigotry, prejudice, and ignorance. These 
signs are to be seen whenever we turn our eyes over the con- 
tinent of Europe, and this generation will not pass away with- 
out a manifestation, such as modern history does not record 
of manifestations of life and power of a new resurrection to 
life. The object is not to destroy or vitiate the value of 
ancient records and systems, but to show the harmony existing in 
all, and that whatever may have been, and is the character of the 
external presentment, yet they are one and all various mani- 
festations of the one truth based upon the recognition of one 
law by which our nature, whether above or below, is the out- 
come and representation of that which is within nature, of which 
it is the effect and to which the term spirit is applicable. 

We are living in one of those cycles which we think is draw- 
ing to a close, and a new and brighter day is dawning upon us, 
such as has never been witnessed in the world's history — an era 
when the principles, precepts, and practice of the religion of 
Jesus will be recognized by those who are governed by moral 
principle, and the inalienable right of freedom without the 
dictate of authority claiming to be of divine origin will be uni- 
versally acknowledged by mankind. 

We make the following extract from Rev. Dr. Charles Beech- 
er's recent work on " Spiritual Manifestations," pages 148-150 : 
u It is curious that if we examine the languages of Greece and 
Rome and India we find certain words, certain rites, certain laws 
very much alike, pointing backward to a very remote antiquity 
when these three peoples — explain it how they may — have had 
the same language and laws and religion. But the striking fact is, 
that at the very earliest period to which we can ascend by an ex- 
amination of languages, rites, and laws, we find a domestic 
religion substantially such as we have shown, would naturally 
result from the Eden tabernacle. Thus regarded, we can con- 



32 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ceive of the ancient polytheism as in one sense the original 
divinely revealed religion. It had the elements of eternal 
truth and heavenly beauty. Its votaries could sincerely re- 
gard it as of divine origin and sanction, and however the fine 
gold might become dim, however gross the corruptions might 
in time become, traces of the original beauty and truth would 
still be there, and the process of change being gradual would 
not be noticed. The process would be substantially the same 
in all the Adamic races, with such diversities of detail as would 
easily spring from mental idiosyncrasy and from environment. 
.... The extreme antiquity of necromancy and magic in all their 
forms is shown more and more clearly by every fresh discovery 
in Assyrian and Egyptian remains. That the cosrnocratic 
powers may have designed by such means to found great and 
imposing empires of worldly splendor is easily conceivable ; but 
facts showed it was an instrumentality they could not regulate. 
They could not prevent abuses from creeping in from the way- 
wardness of the spirits communicating, and from the selfishness 
of men. Their oracles, degenerated, would become tainted 
with fraud, would be prostituted for gain and the gratification 
of their passions. 

" Earthly rulers have often tried to rule well, simply from self- 
ish motives, to enhance their own grandeur and obtain re- 
nown. Is it not conceivable that the same should have been 
the case with the invisible principalities ? Spiritualists, at least, 
can not consistently object to such a view." 

Spiritualism, as I have understood it, does not propose to 
set up a new religion, but to hold sacred those fundamental 
principles which have been shadowed forth in past ages by the 
religions of the nations. It affords a medium through which 
the religious life beams forth transfigured. It proves eternal 
progression, and renders " Hades " a passage to higher spheres 
by a gradual progression for a sudden transformation as has 
been generally believed. 

This principle of God's government in His works of nature 



Harmony of Religions. 33 

in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as well as in man — the 
noblest work of creation — is obvious to reflecting minds. 
Christianity, properly understood, as taught by its founder, has 
no voice to raise against it, for it is the basis on which its 
whole superstructure is built, and constitutes the vitality of its 
possessed creeds or forms of faith. They have undergone 
phases of changes since the beginning, and, from the nature 
of progressive development, must continue ; but truth is 
eternal, and, consequently, not subject to such changes, but 
will remain the same forever. 

Whilst theologies have been waging warfare against each 
other about dogmas and ceremonies, the great eternal truths 
of immortality have still been prominent in some form or an- 
other among the nations of antiquity. Names are often sub- 
stituted for things, and fanaticism has taken the place of rea- 
son. What the world needs now is a living, palpable, healing 
faith, which will lead to active works for humanity ; going 
about doing good to the souls and bodies of manhood ; a faith 
that is not dependent on mere external formulas, but that 
which will inspire universal, holy, and heavenly hopes. Such 
a faith, we believe, Spiritualism is destined to supply, when the 
excrescences have been lopped off of it, and its true mission 
understood and appreciated. 

We want — the churches need and the world demands — a 
faith that gives indubitable testimony that behind the veil there 
is Life, and that Death is a name for the change that must 
of necessity pass upon all, to enter that real life which is be- 
yond the present sublunary state of existence. 

There are the life-long strugglings of the soul for demon- 
strated immortal being that has not been fully met by any of 
the religions of the past ages. Such testimony Spiritualism 
does supply to those who enjoy its demonstrating power from 
those who have passed through the change called death, and 
return to inform us of the glorious beyond. 

We want assurance that the life we lead here will regulate 



34 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the life on the other side. We want to know that every noble 
and holy desire and sincere thought directed in the way of 
goodness, of high endeavor, and soul-elevating conception will 
go with us — pleading for us, and giving us happiness in that 
other world behind the veil. We want assurance that every 
base, degrading action, vicious desire, insincere thought di- 
rected in the way of violated law, low pursuit, and criminal 
conception will follow us, haunting us like spectres, to witness 
against us in that other world. Such assurance Jesus gives by 
declaring that what we sow here we reap there. So does the 
teachings of the inspired writers, that, by our works, we shall 
be justified, and by our works we shall be condemned. 

Spiritualism, as we have, witnessed on different occasions, 
which will be seen at the proper place in the following pages, 
teaches the same truth. It renders doubt and uncertainty im- 
possible, because it brings the consequences of life-action near 
at hand. Thus the certain knowledge that we carry with us, 
immediately after we enter the other life, those natures which 
have demonized or spiritualized our souls on earth — the 
knowledge that when we have passed from the temporal into 
the eternal state begins the heaven or hell we have made 
within us — makes the responsibility to act well our part in the 
present life, and gives the strongest possible incentive to vir- 
tuous and vigorous effort to lead a life of moral rec.uude, as 
preliminary to the eternal life beyond. 

Spiritualism teaches this, and that, too, without ignoring 
Christian truths as taught by its founder. Once ingraft this 
conviction, that virtue and vice walk with us here, and continue 
with us hereafter in degree and power, and the inducement to 
right action will be greatly strength -red and wrong action 
greatly weakened. It is the certainty of retributive justice 
which operates on the consciences and lives of mankind that 
induces right living. Spiritualism thus teaches all who will 
heed its golden principles and precepts, honoring the great 
universal Father, and points to the Christ principle, as shown 



Harmony of Religions. 35 

in the life and teachings of Jesus, and bids us transfer our 
lives and likeness to His. We are thus stimulated to put a 
check upon our passions, and improve our habits to grow more 
and -more in love with the good and true, as the only sure road 
to moral progress here, preparatory to that eternal progression 
which awaits us on the other side of the present infantile state 
of our existence. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE HARMONY OF RELIGIONS (CONTINUED). 

Some have supposed that Spiritualism originated on the 31st 
of March, 1848, in the Fox family, near Rochester, N. Y. 
This is an error. It is as old as anything recorded in history, 
has existed in every age, among every nation, and forms the 
basis of every religion known among men. 

It is true that, like many other things of which this utilita- 
rian age can boast — the discoveries in art, science, labor-saving, 
etc. — means have been discovered through which the veil 
between this and the spirit-world has been drawn aside, and 
the occasional " gates ajar" have been opened. 

As the principle of telegraphy was in existence from the 
beginning, but was brought into practical use through the 
agency of a Mqrse, so the means of direct communication 
between the worlds was discovered through the agency of a 
little girl in a Methodist family, illustrating the truth declared 
by inspiration, that God chooseth the weak things to confound 
the mighty, and perfects praise out of the mouths of babes. 

Whilst we give all honor to the instruments through whom 
these wonderful manifestations were introduced, we must ever 
bear in mind that the Creator has not left humanity to grope 
in darkness in regard to the future of our race. And, however 
erroneous, puerile, and absurd may have been the opinions of 
man in other ages, with respect to a future state of existence, 
yet the light of which Paul speaks as lighting every man that 
cometh into the world, has shed some faint rays in every age 
(36) 



The Harmony of Religions. 37 

and nation that there was another state of existence beyond 
the present sublunary one. 

This, I think, has been effected to a great extent through 
the ministry of angels. Though they may have been " few and 
far between," still they have been sufficient to impress humanity 
that this was not the final end of man's existence. Their ideas . 
of that existence would necessarily correspond with the intel- 
lectual and moral culture of the different ages and nations. 

In looking over the history of antiquity we find all have had 
some sort of a religion. Though the intellectual brain may 
have been dark, feeble, and, to a great extent, dormant, the 
moral and religious feelings have been drifting about without a 
pilot on the turbulent waves of superstition, yet he has had, and 
I think he must have, something true or false for his religion. 

I have been surprised to find that the religions of ancient 
nations in their fundamental principles and religious concep- 
tions are essentially the same. 

New fountains of religious history have been opened which 
have revealed many things establishing this fact beyond a doubt 
with the unbiased, who will examine and compare the Oriental 
with the popular religions of the present age. The translation 
recently, for the first time, of the Hindoo Vedas into the 
English language, the oldest Bible now extant, has revealed the 
fact that the heathen, as we call them, have long been in pos- 
session of "holy books" possessing essentially the same char- 
acter and teaching essentially the same doctrines as the Chris- 
tian Bible. 

The several systems of religion, similar in character and 
spirit as Christianity, have the recognized communion between 
the mundane and the supermundane spheres. The sacred 
biographies of Confucius, born 598 before Christ, declare that 
five wise men from a distance came to the house, celestial 
music was heard in the skies, and angels attended the scene. 

Chrishna of India, 1200 years before Christ, was visited by 
angels. He often appeared to his disciples after his death. 



38 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Thus it will be seen that Spiritualism rears its superstructure 
on no less a foundation — the spiritual history of the human 
race. It reverently reads the sacred books of all ages and 
races, and sends friendly greetings to all of them. But it dis- 
tinctly and emphatically maintains that, while scattered rays of 
revelation have fallen on waiting eyes in Zoroaster, Confucius, 
Buddha, and others, ancient and modern, have flitted through 
this twilight, the summits of revelation have alone been 
attained in Jesus of Nazareth. The full-orbed sun, gathering 
all the scattered rays into one celestial light, springs forth from 
Him who is the brightness of His Father's glory. To the test 
of this light we wish to bring all facts, all theories, all systems 
of all men and all spirits. We are not to believe every spirit, 
but to try them whether they be of God, judging them by their 
teachings. 

While the phenomena of Spiritualism are important as the 
letters of the alphabet to the beginner, or the relative value of 
the figures to the mathematician, yet, as Paul says, we must 
leave the first principles and go on to perfection in knowledge. 
While, therefore, we shall briefly notice the phenomena and 
the philosophy of Spiritualism, it is the religion it teaches that 
is by far the most important, and must claim and receive most 
of the attention to be bestowed in this volume. 

Our constant aim shall be to attain in religion to something 
which ultimately shall be worthy of the name of Spiritual science, 
rising from nature up to nature's God, and by a combined induc- 
tion and deduction of the Spiritual world, seek at once a science 
and a philosophy of religion which shall meet the wants of the 
intellect, satisfy the heart, and supply a«n adequate rule for the 
conduct of life in all the varied relations we sustain to our 
fellow-men. 

To all Spiritualists, then, whether in or out of the Churches, 
who have faith in God, and who are satisfied that the old out- 
grown theologies must be remodeled, and who would attain, 
through the Spirit, eternal life, and who have faith in this over- 



The Harmony of Religions. 39 

lapping of modern Spiritualism, and who would gladly see it 
pruned of its too luxuriant branches, inseparable from a young 
and vigorous growth, which have sprung from this magnificent 
tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, we 
say, " Come over and help us." 

Our one object and aim shall be to present the pure teachings 
which we have received from our spirit friends through more 
than a quarter of a century of prayerful, careful investigation of 
this subject. While our early training in the Methodist Church, 
and thirty-six years of active service in her itinerant ministry, 
may, to some extent, influence the views that may be given, 
yet we think we have developed far enough 

u To seize the truth wherever found, 
On Christian or on heathen ground." 

I believe a brighter day is dawning upon us. A new era 
is approaching, when faith having performed its mission, will 
be superseded by knowledge. The demand of this age is 
proof — demonstration. The past ages have not been able 
to produce that which satisfies the materialistic tendency of 
this age. The credulity of the past will not suffice for the 
present and future of our race. 

Other religions may have sufficed for those among whom 
they originated, but will not — can not — supply the necessities 
which the intelligence of this age demands. Spiritualism only, as 
I believe, can achieve this glorious victory. When its excres- 
cences are lopped off it will present a philosophic religion, upon 
which mankind will harmonize in the fulfillment of the mission 
of the Angelic host, when they came, at the birth of Jesus, to 
the shepherds near Bethlehem of Judea. " Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth, peace, good-will toward men." This 
heavenly song by the angel choir has never yet been realized, 
as I believe it will be, when, through the instrumentality of the 
angels, the world will be presented with a religion that will 
meet the most exacting demands of science, as to its phenom- 



40 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

enal aspects, forcing conviction of its truth upon all unprej- 
udiced minds. Then the time will have come, long predicted 
by the ancient prophets, that the nations shall learn war no 
more, and all acknowledge the Fatherhood of God and the 
Brotherhood of man. 

We do not propose to devote much space to this part of our 
subject. Though we commenced our investigation in 1853, 
and devoted considerable time to it in 1854, at home, we were 
not fully convinced of its truth until the spring of 1855. 

A circle, composed of five physicians, three ministers, one 
of whom was the Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee, making in all 
twelve members, met, for several months, twice a week, in the 
city of Memphis. All were members of some branch of the 
Church except three. By spirit direction, our meetings were 
always opened with prayer. There was but one of our num- 
ber who was a Spiritualist. All, however, were desirous of 
knowing the truth, and were willing to patiently search for it. 
Our medium was a young lady, a member of the Baptist 
Church. Our organization the first evening was by the 
rapping process. The next evening the medium's hand was 
controlled to write with great rapidity, answering written and 
mental questions far beyond her capacity. 

We had physical manifestations of a diversified character ; 
some of great power. I will mention one. She knew nothing 
of music, yet they would control her hands to perform on the 
piano splendidly; and the instrument, weighing several hun- 
dred pounds, would rise up, keeping time with the music, no 
one touching the piano but her fingers, as she performed on 
the keys. The guitar would play when no visible hand was 
touching it. They told us the time would soon come when 
they would show themselves to mortals ; that we were not pre- 
pared for that yet, but they would show themselves in light on the 
wall, by turning off the gas, which we did, and the forms were 
seen on the walls and ceiling of the room. The spirit who 
had charge of us never would tell his name or history, or give 



The Harmony of Religions. 41 

us any clew as to his identity, only that he lived several hun- 
dred years previously, and that Bishop Otey was familiar with 
his works. He wished to be known by the name of Mystery. 
And though the good Bishop has told us, since he passed over, 
that he was his disciple, and he has written over the nom de 
plume of " Stranger," many fine communications through our 
home medium, which will appear in another part of this 
volume. His name and history are yet a " mystery " to us. 

He told us he would see each of us once every day while on 
earth — would meet us as we passed over the river of life, — 
and then, and not till then, would we know who he was. He 
said : " Then, I who have been your teacher on earth will be 
your teacher there, and then we shall look upon one another, 
and, oh ! with what eagerness will you devour my teachings." 
When our medium was entranced we had many interesting 
tests from our personal friends. I well remember taking the 
Bishop in my buggy one night after our meeting, and in our con- 
versation in regard to what had occurred that night, he said he 
had always believed in " Guardian Angels" and " Ministering 
Spirits," but he had not expected to live to realize *what he had 
experienced that evening, in conversing with his daughters. 
My first-born daughter gave me a number of tests that were of 
a most satisfactory character. Such were also given, I believe, 
to all the circle. 

These meetings were to me, and, I believe, to the others, 
the most profitable and the most important I ever attended. A 
foundation was here laid upon which the religious structure of 
my after-life has been reared, which I expect to carry with me 
into the spirit-world, and have there the same assistance we 
had here in our circle, in the eternal progressive developments 
of the God-given powers bestowed upon us. 

We most sincerely believed that for several months we had 
been in communication with a spirit of high intellectual and 
moral development from the upper spheres. His teachings 
had a most hallowed influence upon our hearts, and we hope 



42 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

upon our lives, ever since. I had never been so much bene- 
fited spiritually, by any associations I have ever enjoyed. I 
look back now through the lapse of more than a quarter of a 
century with unspeakable joy to those days as being the bright- 
est that had ever dawned upon my religious horizon. Faith in 
immortality was lost in knowledge, by facts indisputable to all un- 
prejudiced minds who thus investigate this glorious philosophy. 

I was then stationed at one of the largest Methodist churches 
in the South, with a membership of over five hundred, to whom 
on Sunday, from the pulpit, I avowed my conviction of the 
truth of Spiritualism, and from that day to the present I have 
been known and recognized by all as a believer in spirit com- 
munion between the natural and spiritual worlds. Being desir- 
ous to know more of this heaven-born truth, I determined to 
heed the advice given me by my Spirit Mother. She wrote 
me privately through our medium thus : " Your interest in this 
matter has been great, but your labor has been smiled upon, 
and we hail your arrival in the field with joy. You will soon 
leave Memphis. Investigate this subject at the North. There 
it is generally known and understood. You will look back upon 
this summer with pleasure, for you shall open the eyes of men, 
for their eyes are closed, or they see through a glass but dimly. 
I, too, have been at your circle, have heard the teachings of 
mystery sometimes received by strangers as pearls cast before 
swine, but to your circle as gems from another and a better 
land." 

" You have a good medium in your own family. You 
should make her practice. She will become quite an interest- 
ing medium. Now, my son, I shall be with you in ail your 
journeyings, and in time of danger protect you ; but trust to One 
greater than I, for He is the only one on whom you should rely. 
Farewell. Susannah Watson." 

I went to St. Louis and called to see a Dr. Scott, who was 
a medium. He did not tell me all that I ever did, but he told 



The Harmony of Religions. 43 

me enough to convince me that he knew, or there were some 
present who told him, of my antecedents. I never saw him 
before or since ; he has been long gone to the spirit-world. 
He was a remarkable Clairvoyant and Glairaudienfi He told 
me he saw a band of spirits with me as I entered his door, and 
many things, if not " unlawful" to tell, would not become me 
to do so. One, however, I will mention. He said, " These 
spirits will make you preach from a text you never preached 
from before, the next time you preach. " I attached no impor- 
tance to this, and do not think it ever entered ray mind until 
after its fulfillment. I went to Chicago, but received nothing 
worth relating there. The first night I spent in New York was 
with an old schoolmate. His partner's wife was a fine medium. 
She was controlled, and spoke much to me by what professed 
to be some of those who were said to be with me. At any 
rate, the control seemed to be familiar with my history, and 
told me some things similar to those Dr. Scott had in St. Louis.* 
Here I met for the first time Miss Emma Hardinge, now Mrs. 
Britten. She had but recently come over from England. 
Quite a number of Memphians went together to see her. She 
took us one at a time, and gave each one some very satisfac- 
tory tests, as to our spirit friends who were with us. Her man- 



* While in New York I went to old "John Street M. E. Church." 
This was the first Methodist church built in America. I had never 
been there, nor have I any idea that there was a person there who ever 
saw me before but the schoolmate who went with me.* The church 
was filled. Soon after we had taken our seats the minister came down 
from the pulpit and insisted that I should go with him in the pulpit. 
After being seated he said, " You must preach for me." I told him 
I had nothing to preach about. He insisted, and finally I told him if 
he would give me the text he was going to preach from I would 
preach from it. This he did, and I preached with unusual liberty 
from his text. Soon after I sat down, I felt sensibly impressed. 
"We told you we would make you preach from a text you never 
d reached from before." I could not understand it. 



44 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ner of communicating I had never seen before, nor have I ever 
seen it since. Her hand was extended in the air, her forefinger 
pointing out, making the letters, she reading them to us. 
From here I went to Boston. The Davenport brothers, then 
boys, had recently come to the city. I went with Dr. Gard- 
ner to see them. They were in a room some 16 to 18 feet 
square. There were but few persons present. A cord was 
put through the button-hole of each one, so that no one 
could move without all knowing it. There were quite a num- 
ber of musical instruments, including a drum and a violin. 
Soon after the light was extinguished, these instruments, con- 
stituting a fine band of music, commenced playing. They were 
carried around, up to the ceiling, and at the request of any one 
would play in front of them. John King was the controlling 
spirit. I talked with him considerably. This was the first 
audible conversation I ever had with one who had passed 
over. I have since met him on both sides of the Atlantic, as I 
shall refer to in its proper place. 



CHAPTER III. 

BIBLICAL TESTIMONY 

Before proceeding further, 1 wish to show from the Bible that 
from its earliest history to the close of the book, angels or men 
appeared to mortals under every dispensation. One took his 
position at the entrance of the terrestrial Paradise, with a 
flaming sword which turned every way to guard the tree of life 
(Gen. iii. 24). 

They appeared to Abraham, and gave him and Sarah prom- 
ise of a son, and ate and conversed with him (xviii. 3). 

They appeared to Lot and told of the ruin of the cities of 
the plain (19). One spoke to Hagar in the desert and pointed 
to a well of water, and commanded her to return to Abraham 
and submit to Sarah (xxi. 17.) An angel went before the serv- 
ant of Abraham to select a wife for Isaac (xxiv. 46). An 
angel spoke to Abraham to stay his hand in the sacrifice of his 
son Isaac (xxii. 11). They appeared to Jacob on his way to 
Mesopotamia, forming a ladder of ascent and descent, typical 
of the intercourse between the two worlds (xxviii. 12). One 
taught him how to secure the differently marked kine (xxxi. 
to, n). One wrestled with him all night on his return from 
Mesopotamia. 

An angel speaketh with Moses from a burning, unconsumed 
bush (Exodus iii. 6, and Acts vii. 25). An angel went before 
the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them in their 
journeyings from Egypt to Canaan (Ex. xiv. 19, 22, 34, xviii. 2). 

One with a drawn sword in his hand appeared to Joshua, 

(45) 



46 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

who said he was captain of the Lord's hosts (Joshua v. 13). 
One appeared to Manoah's wife and told her of the birth of Sam- 
son, and told him he was a man. 

A man of God came unto Eli (Saml. ii. 27, 33). And 
there came a man of God (1 Kings xiii. 1), called a man of God 
ten times : " It is the man of God." And there came a man of 
God and spake to the King of Israel (xxii. 28). 

An ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with 
his sword drawn in his hand (xxii. 23). And the Spirit entered 
into me," when he spake unto me ; I heard him that spake 
unto me (Ez. ii. 2). And behold a hand was sent unto me 
(Daniel v. 5). In the same hour came forth the fingers of a 
man's hand and wrote. And the king saw the hand that wrote 
(Ezraix. 2). Six men (Daniel viii. 13). Saints (ix. 21). "The 
man Gabriel M (x. 5). A certain man (Zach. v. 7). A 
woman (9). Two women came out. They are called " men," 
" man," " Lord" and " God." There is scarcely a book in 
the Old or New Testament in which these beings are not 
found. An angel visited the mothers of John the Baptist and 
of Jesus, and informed them of their coming and their mission 
They announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. Moses 
and Elias talked with Jesus, James, John, and Peter on the 
mount of Transfiguration. They appeared at His resurrection 
and ascension— " two men." An angel opened the prison doors 
and brought Peter and the Apostles out (Acts v. 19; vii. 30, 
35) ; Stephen burning bush (x. 3, 30) ; Cornelius, angel-man 
came to him (xii. 8, 9, 15) ; Peter delivered from prison (xvi. 
9) ; Man of Macedonia went immediately (Paul to Hebrews) ; 
the law was given by an angel. One of the old prophets made 
the closing revelation to John on the Isle of Patmos. 

Thus we see that spirit-communion forms the basis of He- 
brew, Jewish, and Christian religions, as well as other religions. 
These communications extend over a history of thousands o ' 
years, and are in harmony with universal law, which is in force 
in every age and nation. We are, therefore, not surprised to 



Biblical Testimony. - 47 

find spiritual communion marking the tablet of every age and 
nation, reaching over the unsearchable past, and antedating 
all reliable history. Its altars stand or moulder in silent elo- 
quence upon the hill-tops of every land. 

Whenever books have been written of a sacred character 
among all peoples, communion between the visible and the in- 
visible worlds has been recognized. 

Ever since what is called death has removed human beings 
from external vision, they have returned to influence and help 
those whom they have left behind. Hence we find impressible 
persons through whom spirit-messages of wisdom and love 
have been received among all nations and ages. It is, how- 
ever, with the Bible manifestations that we have to do in the 
work before us. Christianity, as we understand it, stands upon 
precisely the same basis as Spiritualism, and whatever destroys 
modern manifestations must, with unprejudiced minds, do the 
same with ancient, though they may have become hoary with 
the veneration of antiquity. 

It may be desirable to mention a few of the examples of the 
manifestations of spirit presence which are related in the Bible 
under different heads according to the nature of the phe- 
nomena described. We shall thus be better able to show 
how they correspond with the modern phases of spirit me- 
diumship to be described hereafter. 

There are numerous instances of the exercise of spirit 
power over material objects — such as the rolling back of the 
stone from the door of Christ's tomb ; releasing Peter from 
prison, his chains fall off and the prison gate opened " of its 
own accord." The same help was afforded to the other 
Apostles. David received instructions about the building of 
the Temple .by spirit writing and drawing. " The pattern of 
of all he had," he had " by the spirit." 

Elijah wrote to Jehoram several years after he had passed 
away, as will be shown more fully. Writing without even 
mortal contact, such as we have nowadays frequently received 
in the presence of the mediums, as we shall have occasion to 



48 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

notice hereafter ; similar to the writing on the wall at the feast 
Belshazzar gave when he desecrated the holy vessels taken 
from Jerusalem. 

Spirit lights in different forms and sizes are constantly oc- 
curring at modern seances. 

Abraham saw, when he requested, a sign, a smoking fur- 
nace, and a lamp of fire. A pillar of fire guided the Israelites 
out of Egypt and through the wilderness. 

The trance state is one of frequent mention in the Old and 
New Testaments. Divination was practiced by Joseph, and 
Clairvoyance and Clairaudience by Samuel. 

Healing by spirit power was practiced under every dispensa- 
tion, and was one of the gifts mentioned by Paul in his letter 
to the Corinthians. Samuel, Moses, Elias, and many others, 
returned after they had passed away, proving by ocular 
demonstration that they still lived in a state of consciousness. 
Both in the Old and New Testaments we find evidence that 
communicating with the spirit-world was then practiced pretty 
much in the same way as it is done in our day. Every phase 
of modern Spiritualism, except Spirit Photography, we find in 
the Bible. 

In the face of all these facts, is it not marvelously strange 
that many believers in the veracity of the Bible are the first to 
scout the idea that any sane man in this matter-of-fact nine- 
teenth century can attach credit to the accounts of modern 
spiritual phenomena, notwithstanding the number of living 
witnesses are a thousandfold greater than of those events of a 
similar character which they profess to believe ? Consistency 
is a jewel very rarely found among this class of people. 

A true Spiritualist will be a close observer of phenomena 
appearing in the universe of materiality. Turn where you 
will, there is a continual manifestation of powers from the 
realms unseen. It is from such objective demonstrations that 
mankind are enabled to learn of the Infinite. Various state- 
ments are made in sacred history that appear so miraculous — 
so clouded with mystery as to preclude all possibility of 



Biblical Testimony. 49 

acceptance, were it not for the objective phenomena by which 
mankind are brought in direct contact with the. operations of 
those subtle forces of life. It is in this realm that the intellect- 
ual Spiritualist lives. Instead of the Bible being cast aside 
as worthless, with a clearer understanding of its principles and 
teachings, the old books of the Bible . are regarded as a his- 
torical account of the race of people who. claimed for them- 
selves the favoritism of Deity. By common consent, modern 
religious teachings use this portion only by way of reference, 
preferring that which is recoided at a later date, which is 
within the limit of human probabilities to comprehend. 

There are sublime truths contained in the teachings of Jesus. 
They are laden with the rich fruitage of spiritual philosophy, re- 
quiring only -a knowledge of spiritual things to be understood. 
No Spiritualist can afford to cast aside those teachings, because 
they contain lessons of wisdom and inculcate principles of ac- 
tion which will bear the most rigid scrutiny of every phase of 
skepticism. If the principles there laid down were adopted by 
mankind, they would make better men and women, better hus- 
bands and wives, better parents and children, better rulers and 
subjects. In a word, they recognize the Fatherhood of God 
and brotherhood of man. It is evident, however, that in this 
age something more is needed to satisfy the cravings of the 
human mind — something by which the mind can be brought 
into closer relationship with the subtle forces that are met with 
on every hand in the journey of life. Turn where you will, 
the demand is heard for more light — more knowledge of the 
relationship between man and his fellow-man, and between 
man and his Creator. 

The Spiritualists of to-day, by the awakening power that 
comes to them from spirit realms, arc led to inquiry, to in- 
vestigation ; and as a result, the mind becomes unfolded and 
enlarged; the whole being becomes charged with the Divine 
presence. Out of this condition new elements will be born, 
and a highway be established between the mateiial- and spirit 
worlds. 

3 



CHAPTER IV. 

WRITING MEDIUMS. 

There are many phases of mediumship, but that of writing 
is the simplest and most convenient. This faculty is often 
found in children and infants. One of the most remarkable 
cases is the infant, only a few months old, of Mrs. Jenkins, for- 
merly Miss Kate Fox. An invisible agency places the pencil in 
his hand, and writes sensible, truthful communications. These 
instances, however, are very rare. They might occur fre- 
quently if efforts were made to accomplish it with them. The 
way for any one to test his or her capacity to write, is to make 
the trial. This may be done in a circle, or by sitting quietly 
alone for say half an hour regularly at the same hour three or 
four times a week. The process is a simple one. It consists 
solely in placing pencil and paper on a table or desk in the 
position of writing. Avoid everything that can interpose with 
the free motion of the hand. It is preferable that the hand 
should not rest on the paper. The point of the pencil should 
rest on the paper sufficient to trace, but not enough to experi- 
ence any resistance. These precautions are only given as the 
preliminaries. When the person has come to write easily, no 
obstacle can arrest it. It is best not to ask for or expect any 
particular spirit to control the hand to write, but be perfectly 
passive and willing to receive anything from any one who has 
the power to use your hand to write. 

A more effectual means to develop a writing medium con- 
sists in a number of persons, all animated by the same desire 
and a community of intention, uniting in a meeting two or three 
(5o) 



Writing Mediums. 51 

times a week, promptly at the same hour, and sitting quietly 
around with hands on a table. The magnetism of the circle 
may be concentrated on one individual, which will be known 
by an involuntary jerking of the arm or hand, which is evidence 
that the person thus affected has mediumistic powers, and if 
persevering effort be made, will be developed into a writing 
medium. It is very seldom that among the number some one 
is not found who will give prompt signs of mediumship, or even 
write easily in a short time. We have been connected with a 
number of circles thus formed in private families, and have 
never known a failure to develop one of the number as a good 
writing medium. The best we have ever known were developed 
in the course of a few evenings' sittings. 

Persons united by a community of intention and desire, with 
good, pure motives, and a sincere desire to know the truth, 
will rarely fail if they will persevere. Our most successful 
efforts have always been preceded by prayer. To say nothing 
of the powerful influence of this agency on any other being, it 
has a harmonizing influence on the parties themselves ; sing- 
ing will have a tendency to produce the same result. Harmony 
is the great law of the spiritual world. Purity of intention and 
good-will to all will greatly facilitate success. Usually the first 
indication of a disposition to write is a kind of trembling in the 
arm and hand \ little by little the hand is carried along by an 
impulse that is involuntary. It often traces but insignificant 
signs, then characters are drawn more and more clearly, and it 
ends by acquiring the rapidity of ordinary writing. The hand 
must be abandoned to its natural movement — neither resisting 
nor propelling. 

The primary point consists in putting one's self with a sin- 
cere faith under the protection of God, and imploring the as- 
sistance of one's guardian angel, who is ever ready to assist in 
effecting the object. Purely mechanical writing is very rare ; 
it is more or less mixed with intention. The medium having a 
consciousness of what he writes, is naturally prone to doubt his 



52 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

faculty ; he does not know if it comes from himself or a foreign 
spirit. He need not be disquieted, and should continue all 
the same. Let him observe with care, and he will easily recog- 
nize in what he writes a crowd of things not in his thought — 
that are even contrary to it — evident proof that they do not come 
from himself. Let him then continue, and doubt will be dissi- 
pated by experience. 

From the commencement of my investigation of this subject, 
I have been witnessing the development of this phase of 
manifestation. The first I ever saw was our colored servant- 
girl, in 1855. She could neither read nor write, yet she wrote 
in the identical handwriting of the spirit having charge of our 
circle, known as " Mystery," who professed to control her. A 
pencil placed between a pair of scissors would write, while she 
simply held them with one hand. A number of persons tried 
with the same pencil and scissors, and both hands, and, with all 
their efforts, could not make even a mark. It would fall. I 
have been connected with a number of circles for the develop- 
ment of mediums, and have never known one that was not a 
success in from one to four or five sittings, of an hour or two. 
One of the most interesting I ever witnessed was with only 
three persons. In less than an hour one of them was controlled 
by several of her friends, giving tests of their identity. Though 
over seven years have elapsed, they have controlled this me- 
dium ever since, for the family and special friends. 

One other case I will mention, in which I was a participant. 
I was requested by a friend to meet with a few persons at the 
house of an officer of the United States Army, who was 
stationed on the Mexican border before the war. He was an 
avowed materialist. As soon as I went in he told me his views, 
which were anything but Spiritualistic. There were six of us 
—two on each side of the table, and he at one end and his 
daughter at the other. Soon after we sat down he com- 
menced shaking — his arms being thrown around violently. 
Two men could not hold him. This continued for some rain- 



Writing Mediums. 53 

utes, when he became quieted. A pencil and paper were 
brought, and his hand was controlled, writing in the Spanish lan- 
guage. It purported to come from a lady whom he had known 
in Mexico. A number of tests were given as to her identity. 
The lamp had to be removed, leaving it so that no writing could 
be read until taken to the light. His daughter, understanding 
Spanish, translated and read it to us. 

When I asked if there were not others there, it was written, 
" There are a great many here, but they are all Americans but 
me." A gentleman was present who had been in the navy dur- 
ing the war. He had a difficulty with one in the army, in Vir- 
ginia, as to which ranked the other. An interesting confab 
was kept up for some time between these parties. 

The last question asked by him of the invisible was, "Where 
did we meet last ? " The correct answer was promptly given, 
" In Charleston, South Carolina." The medium was then 
controlled by what purported to be Greenlaw, a prominent, 
old citizen of Memphis, whose body was then laid out at the 
Peabody Hotel. This, for the length of time (several hours), 
was a very interesting seance. This gentleman soon after 
joined the Methodist Church. 

The philosophy of this is, that the table is a good con- 
ductor of magnetism. Each person has their magnetic influ- 
ence. By sitting around a table, with their hands on it, the 
table conveys their magnetism to the one most susceptible to 
spirit control, and thus enables the spirits to possess the or- 
ganism of the sensitive, negative, or medium, and use their or- 
gans as they would their own — all in harmony with the laws of 
physiology, or the positive controlling the negative. 

Dr. J. V. Mansfield, of 61 West Forty-second Street, New 
York, stands at the head of the list of writing mediums as far 
as my investigation has gone. I have had more tests through 
his mediumship than from any other outside of my family. He 
is so well known to the Spiritualists and thousands of those 
who have tested his powers, that it is needless for me to say 



54 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

that I have never seen any medium, through whom I have had 
so many tests, embracing a period of over a score of years. 
Some of these will be given in another place, and I think it 
probable that there are some who will, through his medium- 
ship, say something to the readers of this volume before it is 
finished. 

His answering questions propounded in sealed letters has 
been by far more extensive than any other of whom I have 
ever heard. He is also clairvoyant — seeing those who control 
his hand to write. He was for a long time a Methodist class- 
leader, and has always maintained the reputation of a high- 
toned, upright, reliable gentleman. 

THE INDEPENDENT SLATE-WRITING. 

This phase is not so common or so easily obtained. It is, 
however, much more satisfactory to skeptics. 

A small particle of slate pencil is placed on a slate, and it is 
held under a table covered usually with a cloth. The theory 
of this is that the spirit materializes a hand, and, with it, does 
the writing. The hand is often put outside the covering (while 
the medium's hand is on the top of the table) and is seen to do 
the writing. We have had a number of this kind of mediums 
in Memphis. Among the first was Miss Clara Robinson, who, 
when a little girl, and for many years, converted many persons 
to a belief in spirit communion. 

Mrs. Miller has done considerable in that line also for sev- 
eral years. 

Mrs. Eldridge has been more public and more successful in 
convincing people. With her the spirits bring their pencil- 
writing between double slates. I have talked with her control 
freely in regard to the matter. He says there is no slate to 
them in the way of writing; that matter is no obstruction to 
spirit-writing, and that they can write as well with the slate 
pressed against the bottom of the table as for it not to touch it. 

Mrs. Simpson— for many years a resident of New Orleans, 



Writing Mediums. 55 

but now of Chicago — is a fine slate-writing medium ; also for 
a flowers, etc. I knew her in New Orleans. I met her at Dr. 
Spencer's, Battle Creek, Michigan, last summer. The doctor 
invited a committee of the most intelligent skeptics to test her 
powers in his parlor. There were ten gentlemen and seven 
ladies met in the afternoon. The skeptics sat with her around 
a table improvised for the occasion, consisting of a plank with 
some strips nailed to it for legs. After some slate-writing, one 
of them went into Mrs. Spencer's kitchen and got a glass fruit 
jar with metal top, which he screwed on as tight as he could. 
This was placed on the slate and put under the table. Soon 
the rapping was given to take it out, when a very large rose 
that does not grow in that climate was found inside the jar — 
the top screwed tightly on as it was. 

Some of the .party asked for a snake to be brought, but she 
begged them not to request it, as she had been chased by a 
snake when a girl and it made her nervous. Others desired a 
fish. 

Her Indian control wrote : " Me bring both of them." A 
basin of water was brought and placed on the slate, and, in a 
few moments, a live eel was found therein. 

On Sunday afternoon, in the presence of an estimated audi- 
ence of three thousand people, on the stand flowers were 
brought and presented to the parties for whom they were said 
to have been designed. 

That night, after I had lectured at the Opera House to a 
large audience, she came on the stage, and a- quantity of flow- 
ers were brought and sent out among the people. A jar with 
some water was placed on the slate, with the top fastened se- 
curely. A fish was brought and put in it. Those who sat near 
the table said they heard the pouring of water in the jar with 
the fish. It was in that house that a gentleman offered her 
fifty dollars to bring a certain flower, and it was brought 
promptly to him. 

She is the lady who accepted the challenge of the St. Louis 



56 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

editor, went alone, and came off victorious. She is a bold, 
independent, slate-writing and flower medium. 

The best slate-writing medium to convince skeptics I have 
ever seen is a Mr. Watkins, of Cleveland, Ohio. I called to see 
him last summer with Mr. Lewis. A number of gentlemen 
were there. He told them all to go into another room but my- 
self. He made several ineffectual attempts at writing. 

Finally this was written : " The fault is not with you ; but 
the medium has had no sleep for two nights. We must have 
vitality or we can't control. I want Mr. Lewis to come back, 
Mollie." Mr. Lewis was called, and w T e found Mr. Watkins 
had been sitting up with his sick wife two nights, and had to be 
sent for to come to his office to meet his appointment. He 
gave me a double slate entirely free from any mark. I held it 
as high as I could reach in the air. Soon we heard the scratch 
of the pencil. On opening, we found '' Theo. Parker," written 
in a bold, plain hand, " I give you this as a test." That was 
rubbed out and the slate handed to Mr. Lewis. We could 
hear the pencil for some time writing, when, opening it, a com- 
munication from Mr. Lewis' wife, who had been dead only a 
few weeks, was seen. 

Mr. Lewis said it was in the handwriting of his wife, with a 
fac-simile of her signature. There was another communica- 
tion, with the same proofs of identity, from his daughter, who 
had passed away several years since. 

There was also a communication from my brother, who died 
of yellow fever in 1878. Here was no possibility of any 
fraud or collusion. I have no idea that Mr. Watkins knew any- 
thing of either of the parties. Mr. Lewis was some six or eight 
feet from him, with the slate held as high as he could reach in 
sunlight. 

This is the same medium who has been recently so severely 
tested by Rev. Joseph Cook and his party of live skeptics in 
Mr. Epes Sargent's library, Boston. 

In those experiments the committee certify u that two slates 



Writing Mediums. 57 

were clamped together with strong brass fixtures, and held at 
arm's length by Mr. Cook, when a message was found on the 
inner surfaces. I have read with much interest his lectures as 
published in the Christian Advocate of New York, which will 
reach a large number of people who never see a spiritual 
paper. He has done more to put that class to thinking than 
any other man. All that Spiritualism wants is an investigation, 
and, if under favorable circumstances, conviction of its truth 
will follow the honest inquirer after it. 

3* 



CHAPTER V. 

PHENOMENA CONTINUED. 

From a careful comparison of the communications, and 
the manner through which they are received, I am satisfied 
that the phenomena of modern Spiritualism are similar to that 
recorded in the Bible. 

The table on which the tiny raps are heard has a significance 
in Biblical history that few have been prepared to appreciate. 
It was through tables that God, by the ministry of angels, com- 
municated His commandments to the children of Israel, giving 
them the wise and holy law of the Decalogue ; and it has been 
through those tables that many of the wisest nations of the 
earth "have acknowledged their duty to God, to their brother 
nations, and to themselves. Then, if a peculiar people re- 
ceived communications on tables from the great Spirit of the 
universe by angelic spirit manifestations, why may not individ- 
uals receive communications from good spirits of the spirit- 
world for their good on tables under this dispensation ? 

If spirits partook of natural food with righteous Lot (as he is 
called) at his table, why may not we be permitted to feast with 
spirits on spiritual things in a spiritual era ? Let us therefore 
look at the table service, as recorded in the New Testa- 
ment, and see if we do not recognize it as one of the great 
features of the Gospel of Christ. The daily ministrations 
which were instituted in the organization of the Church were 
circles or seances of believers, for they met daily in their 
houses, as Jesus had told them that where two or three are 
(58) 



Phenomena. 59 

gathered together in His name, there would He be in the midst 
of them. 

From the time of the ordination of seven prophets, or me- 
diums, to the table service by the apostles, the Church in- 
creased and the disciples multiplied greatly. Many of the 
priests, whose prejudices were perhaps stronger than any 
other class against this sect, seeing the wonders, signs, and 
miracles wrought by these mediums, were converted to the 
faith, and cast their lot with the persecuted followers of the 
Nazarene. 

" And Stephen, full of faith, and power, did great wonders 
among the people." This was the business to which Ste- 
phen and his associates were called, and not merely to hand 
around the bread and the wine at the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper. Since the table service is again established on earth, 
with its signs and wonders, it is evident that the table service 
of modern Spiritualism is the table service of primitive Chris- 
tianity now established among the nations. 

As the table is the center around which friends and kindred 
meet, to feast and commune in friendship and love in earth- 
life, so angels and spirits make the table the center around 
which we meet and hold communion with the spirits of our 
departed friends, who have passed on before, and who wait to 
welcome us over the river of life to their blissful abode on the 
other shore. These spiritual feasts I have enjoyed for more 
than a score of years in our own quiet home. Some of those 
who used to meet around our table have passed over, but have 
returned to our family " Bethel," not as they used to do, clad 
in mortal garb, but in the habiliments of spirit-life, telling us of 
their happy home, and of the deep interest they still feel in our 
welfare. 

As the table is the instrument round which we meet to sat- 
isfy the natural appetite of the body, so our spirit friends make 
the table the implement on which they usually communicate 
to those around it. The living mortals and the spirit immor- 



60 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

tals can meet and satisfy the spiritual appetites of the soul in 
sweet communion with each other, thus lifting the veil between 
the natural and the spirit worlds. 

To show that the table is a spiritual as well as a natural im- 
plement, Jesus said to His disciples : " I appoint unto you a 
kingdom, as my Father hath appointed me, that ye may eat and 
drink at my table in my kingdom " (Luke xxii. 29, 30). 

In this scripture Jesus has informed us that there are tables 
in the spirit-world, and if we are found worthy, we shall eat 
and drink at His table in His kingdom. 

The two tables received by Moses — one contained the duties 
we owe to God, the other for man's duty to his fellow-man, 
and the two tables being joined together were as one, and were 
called the tables of the covenant, uniting God and man, 
Heaven and earth, in one. And as these tables show the 
spiritual union of God and man, as the great table service of 
the Jewish natural dispensation, so the still greater table serv- 
ice of Christ and the Apostles show the spiritual dispensation 
which was instituted, not only for holding communication with 
spirits, that men might so hear and know by conversing with 
their departed friends, that there is a glorious, happy land, 
beyond where they that do His commandments, as John says, 
shall have right to the tree of life and partake of its fruit. 

For many years we have had mediums in our family, through 
whom we have kept up intercourse, to the present time, with 
our spirit friends. This has afforded us more real happiness 
than we ever enjoyed from any other source whatever. 

Our "home altar " has indeed been, as Jacob said, the gate 
of Heaven to us. 

Spirit-writing is much more common in our day than it was 
in Biblical times, for the obvious reason that comparatively 
few persons could write in those days. If they could not write 
before passing over, it is not probable that they could com- 
municate through this means from the other shore. We have 
enough, however, of Biblical history to show conclusively that 



Phenomena. 61 

a number of communications were written by persons who had 
laid aside their mortal covering. 

There are three ways by which spirit-writing is produced. 
First, by materialized spirit hands ; second, by the will 
power of spirits impressing the brain of the medium as the 
mechanical part of it progresses ; third, by the medium's 
hand being controlled by the spirit magnetizing it, and using 
it as though it was its own hand. 

I think all three of these modes were used in Biblical times. 
The first by materialized hand is brought to view in Daniel v. 
5 : " In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand and 
wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall 
of the king's palace, and the king saw the hand that wrote." 

There are thousands of living witnesses to this kind of 
spirit-writing. It has been witnessed in Memphis for many 
years. The spirit will not only materialize the hand and write 
loving messages to friends, giving tests of their identity, but 
will shake hands with those present ; their hands looking and 
feeling as natural as any mortal's. 

I mention one of many incidents which have occurred in my . 
own house. A Methodist preacher, a member of the North 
Miss. Conference, and his wife, were spending a few days with 
us. They occupied a room in the south end of the third story. 
About noon, on a clear day, a little girl came to see us. At 
my request she went up to the preacher's room, into which 
she had never been. His shawl was spread over a small 
writing-table. A slate was held by her under the cloth with a 
small piece of pencil placed on it. A materialized hand wrote 
a number of messages, which the preacher said were from his 
father, long since passed to the spirit-land. A hand double 
the size of the girl's was extended from under the shawl, show- 
ing it in sunlight some distance up the wrist. This hand shook 
hands with the minister, his wife, and others who were present. 
It possessed a strength which was. tested stronger than one or 
two of those whom it embraced. 



62 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

None could for a moment believe that this child had any 
more than a passive agency in this phenomenon, which was 
similar to the one recorded in olden time, and both were in har- 
mony with the law of materialization. . None of the company 
had ever witnessed anything of the kind before, yet all were con- 
vinced that there could be no fraud or collusion in what they 
had seen and felt, in this their first experience of hand-shaking 
with those who had been a number of years in the spirit-land. 

It is often the case that materialized spirits will take a pencil 
and write communications to parties present when the entire 
form is visible to all present. 

One of the most remarkable instances of spirit-writing on 
record in the Bible, is the letter that Elijah wrote to Jehoram, 
king of Judah (see 2 Chronicles xxi. 24). 

Elijah's translation was about the time of Ahaziah's death, 
and it is therefore between it and the beginning of Ahab's son, 
Jehoram's, reign (2 Kings i. 18 ; iii. 1), which this last quota- 
tion expressly states was " in the eighteenth year of Jehosha- 
phat, king of Judah." Therefore at Elijah's translation Jehosha- 
phat could not have reigned more than seventeen and a half 
years, after which he must have reigned seven and a half years 
to have made up his twenty-five years (2 Chron. xx. 31). 
This son, Jehoram, succeeded him, and reigned eight years 
(2 Chron. xxi. 5-20), from which account of his wickedness 
given in this chapter, both before and after his reception of the 
writing and his two years of sickness of which he died, this 
writing seems plainly to have been sent to him about the mid- 
dle of his reign. This gives him four years of wicked ruling 
before its reception, and two years after it, and two years' 
sickness, whereof he died, as the writing predicted. We there- 
fore sum up the testimony thus : 

1st. After Elijah's translation, Jehoshaphat, the father of Je- 
horam, reigned seven years. 

2d. After Jehoshaphat' s death, his son, Jehoram, before re- 
ceiving Elijah's letter, reigned four years. 



Phenomena. 63 

3d. From Elijah's translation to his writing and sending this 
letter, eleven years. 

Therefore the translated prophet Elijah did, according to 
Biblical testimony, write and send a letter to Jehoram, king of 
Judah, after being in the spirit-world at least ten years. 

The Bible, therefore, clearly proves, and sanctions — 

1 st. The communications of those who have passed over to 
the spirit-world with those who remain in this world. 

2d. That Spiritualism or spirit-writing is proven beyond the 
possibility of a doubt by Biblical history. 

3d. That the same universal law by which this prophet 
wrote to the king of Judah is now, and ever has been, in exist- 
ence ; hence we have thousands of communications written by 
those who have gone to the spirit-world, addressed to those 
who remain in their earth-life. 

In this letter we find a strong resemblance to the writing on 
the wall of Belshazzar's palace for an object exactly similar. 
In both cases these kings were reproved for their wickedness, 
and warned of their approaching destruction. The warning in 
both cases was given in writing and from celestial messengers. 
In the latter case we are told who the writer was. In the case of 
Belshazzar we are especially shown how the writing was done, 
but we are not told by whom it was done ; but as an eminent 
Jewish prophet did the writing to Jehoram, a king of his peo- 
ple, it is probable that some ancient seer of Babylon, with his 
materialized hand, which the king saw, did the writing on the 
wall 

This case also proves that spirit-writing was done among the 
ancient Babylonians, who were idolaters, and what are called 
pagans. Showing that then, as now, those whom we denomi- 
nate as heathen are, and have been, the recipients of communi- 
cations from the spirit-world. 

I could give other cases of spirit-writing in the Bible, but 
think that these two, so clearly set forth, are sufficient to con- 
vince the unprejudiced mind of the truth of that manner of 



64 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

communicating which was known and practiced not only by 
the Jews, but the heathen nations of that age. Let those who 
wish to pursue this subject further turn to the 28th chapter of 
1st Chronicles, where an account is given of David receiving 
the pattern of the temple and its furniture, which he says he re- 
ceived in writing through a spirit. It was done by the author- 
ity of God's direction. Therefore God sanctions spirit-writing. 



CHAPTER VI. 

MATERIALIZATION. 

This is the demonstrative phase of spiritual phenomenon. It 
is found in the history of all religions. It is recorded in patri- 
archal, mosaic, and prophetic dispensations of the Old Testa- 
ment, and forms the basis of the Christian dispensation. It 
was the last test we demanded of our spirit friends in our early 
investigation, to show themselves to me in the daytime, and 
let there be others present who shall see you. In order Tor 
this to be done they must clothe themselves, temporarily, with 
matfer, for the natural organs of sight can not behold a spirit. 
This is done by subtle laws, of which we know but little, only 
the fact is susceptible of demonstration as other facts of which 
our senses take cognizance. 

I have seen particles, which by rapid motion were brought 
together, and in a very short time a human face appeared in a 
room where there was no mortal. This was witnessed by a 
number of persons in an adjoining room, in Memphis. If we 
examine the process by which nature does its work, light may 
be shed upon the subject. 

When we look abroad over the world, and see in the three 
great kingdoms of nature, in obedience to universal laws, how 
everything is working steadily, but surely, to the accomplish- 
ment of grand results, we behold the wisdom of the Great 
Architect of the physical universe displayed whenever we turn 
our eye and thoughts upon His works, to say nothing of the his- 
tory given by the " testimony of the rocks,' 'and the demonstra- 

(65) 



66 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

tions of geology as to the formation of our earth, in obedience 
to those laws requiring unknown ages to accomplish the grand 
results that we find in every part of the world. Let us look at 
the vegetable and animal kingdom as illustrating the principle 
of materialization continually before our eyes in perfection. 
See the sturdy oak that has stood the storms for more than a 
century — where did it come from ? — whence did it originate ? 
Its spirit was in the acorn ; its germ-life was there hidden, but 
brought forth by the soil, and nourished by its concentration of 
atoms from the atmosphere : we have materialization on a 
grand scale, from year to year gathering more matter and fur- 
nishing thousands of acorns with life-germs for as many more 
trees like the parent. 

Look at the ten or twelve seeds in an apple — plant them, 
and perhaps each one will produce a new variety of fruit, with 
its peculiar characteristics. It grows as other trees, through 
materialization from the atmosphere of matter. Every leaf has 
a germ-life precisely like its parent, which, when budded into 
another kind, will bring forth just the same fruit of the parent 
stock, with seeds to bring forth endless varieties of apples, all 
harmoniously at work by the law of materialization. -So with 
the numerous varieties of roses planted in the same soil — each 
gathers from the atmosphere its peculiar color and fragrance by 
the same law ; a bud taken from one and inserted in another 
kind, grows, maintaining its own peculiarities, so that^on one 
bush you may, by the process of budding, have a bouquet of all 
the roses in the garden, each maintaining its own peculiarities, 
though growing on the same stock and nourished by the same 
sap, yet each gathers from the atmosphere that which consti- 
tutes its own peculiar tint and fragrance. 

When we look into the animal kingdom, we behold the same 
law of materialization in operation from the smallest to the 
largest animal. It is with humanity, however, that we have the 
deepest interest in illustrating this universal principle. How- 
ever erroneous the commonly received account of the origin of 



Materialization. 6 7 

man, as given in Genesis, may be, there is the most important 
truth stated there, that " God breathed into man the breath of 
life, and he became a living soul." Spirit is the basic principle 
of humanity ; it is the real being covered, so to speak, by mat- 
ter, in which it grows and develops during its earth-life, and 
what is called death throws it off, or to quote the language of 
Solomon speaking of this change, " Then shall the dust return 
to the earth, as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it" 

A very important question arises right here — one that was 
asked me publicly at the grove meeting near Cleveland, Ohio 
— When does life begin ? Our answer was, " At conception." 
I am aware that there is a large class of intellectual people 
who argue that if life ever had a beginning, it will have an end- 
ing. At first this looks reasonable from a materialistic stand- 
point, but not from a spiritual one. It is true, we know but 
little of spirit — only it is that which is permanent, the real, not 
made or controlled by the laws of matter in materialization. 

The best material agents to give us any idea of spirit, are 
electricity and magnetism, and yet how little do we know of 
the subtile laws which govern in this realm. If, however, I had 
to argue with the materialist, as from his stand-point, I would 
assume that electricity and magnetism had been in existence 
from eternity, and that man's immortal part was individualized 
from them as something of a kindred nature, which could never 
die and was not subject to the laws pertaining to matter on 
this plane or in the spirit-world. But we are not now noticing 
man's real self, but simply his clothing. This has been made 
for him by the concentrating of particles of matter, taking on 
and throwing off" continually through his whole earth-life. He 
is a materialized spirit, and at the change called death he is 
dematerialized. 

It will be clearly seen that matter is the evanescent, fading, 
and changing, in ail the kingdoms of nature. Take the solid 
granite from the "everlasting hills." Apply heat sufficiently 
thereto, and we form a liquid ; increase it and you generate 



6$ The Religion of Spiritualism. 

gas or thin air, and so with metals, and everything above the 
earth heated sufficiently will decompose, or cause a return to 
the original elements, and again be reconstructed in other 
bodies. What requires years to accomplish by natural laws, 
by the process of growth, may be effected temporarily in a 
very short time, as facts fully demonstrate in sacred and pro- 
fane history. The laws governing these temporary organiza- 
tions are not understood by mortals. I have consulted spirits 
in regard to them, and they say it is a " spiritual chemistry," so 
to speak; that they have in the spirit- world the power, and 
take the matter of which these materializations are composed 
from several sources : First and mainly from the medium, 
whom they usually entrance, and then the quickest and best 
manifestations occur, hence they have often the features of the 
medium. Second, from the parties present who may be medi- 
umistic and from whom they draw, and from the atmosphere 
which contains the particles of matter that are being constantly 
thrown off from the bodies of every one present at the seance. 
The rapidity with which this work is done, is truly wonderful, and 
would be incredible if we had not witnessed it hundreds of times 
under conditions which render deception utterly impossible. 

I have had in my own library the medium tied securely and 
dressed in dark clothing, examined by a committee of ladies, 
who declare she had nothing out of which any deception could 
be practiced. I have had the most scientific physicians ex- 
amine her, and pronounce her to be in a cataleptic state, in- 
capable of performing any voluntary action, and yet in an al- 
most inconceivably short time, persons draped in white, two, 
and sometimes three, at a time, while the medium Was appar- 
ently dead behind the curtain hung up in the corner of a brick 
room, would walk out in the presence of from ten to fifty per- 
sons. I can not account for these materializations, but the 
facts are as well attested as any other facts of which the senses 
take cognizance. 

Dematerializations occur with the same rapidity. These oc- 



Materialization. 69 

cur often when the forms are several feet from the curtain, pass- 
ing apparently down through the floor, and sometimes when a 
circle of mortals has been made around a form, it has gone down 
out of sight, in some instances when the same has been in 
another room from thirty to forty feet from the medium. Man- 
ifestations similar to these occurred with Jesus, and they have 
been received as true by the churches in all ages. He appeared 
in the room when the door was shut, and vanished out of sight 
when they sat a.t the table, after having asked a blessing upon 
the food of which they were about to partake. 

The resurrection and materialization of Jesus is the foun- 
dation upon which the whole Christian superstructure has been 
reared. It is the great phenomenal fact that first convinced 
His disciples and followers of the spiritual nature of the king- 
dom He came to establish. He was seen at one time by more 
than five hundred who were witnesses to the people of that day 
and generation. 

So it is with the materialization of this age. It is the key- 
stone of the spiritual arch, which brings to the senses not only 
ocular, but tangible demonstration of the truth of the return of 
those who have passed from mortal sight through what we call 
death. They return temporarily clad, as in earth-life, for the 
purpose of driving the last vestige of materialistic infidelity from 
the earth. It is accomplishing this as rapidly, perhaps, as it 
should be done. Many of the most intellectual giants of that 
school in F.urope are investigating, and some have already 
given their adherence to this glorious truth of the nineteenth 
century, that there is no death, but a birth to a higher life of im- 
mortality for the human family. 

I could fill a volume with what I have witnessed during the 
eight years I have been investigating this phase of manifesta- 
tion. Important as these may be to convince skeptics of the 
truth of immortality, it is but the alphabet of this glorious, 
heaven-born philosophy. The first I ever saw. was in 1872, in 
Memphis, Mrs. Hollis the medium. 



70 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

My wife's father, who was a Methodist preacher, and my 
spirit-wife, were the only ones, out of some twelve or fifteen, 
that we knew. Both looked about as natural as they did in 
earth-life. My present wife had never seen my former one, 
only her portrait, yet as soon as she appeared, she said to me, 
" That's Mollie." It was in daylight, with a number of per- 
sons some of whom were materialists, yet all saw the forms, as 
we did. 

My next experience was in London in 1873. J went with 
Mr. J. Burns to one of Mr. Williams' seances. Saw and 
talked to " John King." His features are very distinct, so that 
once seen the impression is indelible. I saw and talked freely 
with him, while the medium (Mr. Holmes) was in an iron cage. 
This was at the Centennial in Philadelphia, in 1876. 

I have seen my spirit-wife, children, and friends scores of 
times, often in daylight, with many persons present. I will 
copy what I published in the Spiritual Magazine in 1875, °f 
one of the first times she appeared with Mrs. Miller, who had 
no cabinet, only four blankets on a frame, movable to any 
place : 

" Our former wife, draped in purest white, turned aside the 
blanket, and walked outside, clapping her hands in ecstasy as 
she retired. She then brought out a child in her arms, took a 
seat in a common chair (not a rocker), and rocked the child 
some time. She then sat it on the floor, and left it for a few 
moments, then taking it inside. We were then requested to 
come to the cabinet, when we shook hands, she kissing ours 
several times. Our eyes were not more than six inches apart, 
and her eyes looking as natural as in earth-life. We felt of her 
face, which seemed as natural as it ever did, and about the same 
temperature of our hand. We said, ' Mollie, can't you talk to 
me ? ' when she whispered, ' No.' 

" Soon after returning to our chair, she came out again, ad- 
vancing toward us. We met and kissed her as naturally as we 
ever did. A child turned aside the blanket, and stood some 



Materialization. 7 1 

time in full view of us all. During this time it expanded in 
size to perhaps" double what it was when it first came out. 

" This to us was the most satisfactory seance we had ever 
witnessed. A number of other things occurred, but what we 
have related was the most interesting to us. 

" Being desirous to hear what our dear ones had to say 
about that meeting, we requested our home medium to give 
them an opportunity after church the next night. We copy a 
portion of what was written. Though of a personal character, 
it will doubtless be read with interest by those who are investi- 
gating this subject. Facts, indisputable facts, are what we are 
seeking for, and we feel more solicitous to know what our spirit 
friends say about them than we do about what our earth friends 
may think or say in regard to them, hence we give their 
views : 

" ' My Dear Samuel :— My joy of last night was just enough 
to give me an appetite for more of the same sort. Now, wasn't 
it a happy time ? To you I know it was, and more to me, for 
I could see ycu better than you could me. I have never been 
better satisfied than I was last night with anything I ever did 
in all my life. You were gratified, and we were all rejoiced. I 
want now to see and talk with Johnnie and the girls, and when 
we can control the medium better, and draw sufficient power 
ourselves, I intend to have them all here in your library, and 
then it will be a union of dear ones, sure enough. We can do 
more than we have ever done, but time and patience are both 
necessary for the proper development. Now, don't think we 
are tardy, for we can't control the medium just when we want 
to. There were many happy hearts last night, and I think I 
was the happiest of the happy/ 

" We asked what child that was who stood outside, and grew 
up while there, and she answered thus : 

" * I can't tell which one you saw, for there were two. Sam- 
my, we suppose, was the one you saw ; at least, he thinks so. 
He is happy, too, over the conclusion.' 



?2 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" l Did you aim to show him as he was when he left us, and 
then show how he had grown up in spirit-life ?' 

11 'That was the idea — the intention. All that was done was 
only to appear the most natural to you, as you well know of 
these little identities. Mollie.' " 

MATERIALIZATION OF WASHINGTON. 

I met with Mrs. E. L. Lewis, of Cincinnati, at the Centen- 
nial, when Washington materialized at Col. Kase's. She in- 
formed me that she was directed to go to Memphis for a 
similar purpose. I extended to her a cordial invitation to our 
home, which she accepted. I invited over fifty representative 
citizens, but no Spiritualist. 

We copy from Mrs. Shindler's book,. " A Southerner among 
the Spirits ": 

"OUR WASHINGTON. 

" Mrs. Lewis has arrived. This is the lady in whose 
presence the materialization of our beloved father and chief, 
George Washington, is accomplished. She is the honored 
guest of our good pr. Watson, whose hospitable doors are ever 
open to all those who wish to give or receive information from 
the angel-world. Mrs. Miller's mediumship is now to be tested. 
In Dr. Watson's library, in a cabinet of simple construction, 
being formed of curtains attached to a frame, in one corner of 
the room, with a solid brick wall on two sides, after some fine 
music, Mrs. E. Watson presiding at the organ, and an 
earnest and affecting prayer from Dr. Watson, out stepped 
from the cabinet a tall r male figure ', looking in every respect 
like the pictures of Washington with which we are so familiar. 
The effect was electrical. The outburst of emotion was so 
sudden and so loud as to be heard in the third story, and in 
the basement, causing considerable alarm to those who had 
been kept out of the room by household duties, This noble 
form stood quietly for a moment, as if to allow the emotion to 
subside, then reached for a flag which was waving from the 



Materialization. 73 

top of the cabinet, and after himself waving it toward the 
audience, he threw it across the room toward Dr. Watson. 
After retiring to the cabinet, he again came forth, and, hand in 
hand with Mrs. Lewis, he walked across the room, when I had 
the pleasure of clasping his holy hand. He came from the 
cabinet five times, each time remaining out a little while. 
Wishing to have a nearer view of his face, I was invited to ap- 
proach the aperture, which I did, bearing in my left hand one 
of the flags which he had handled, and which I now keep as a 
sacred relic. Arrived there, I said to him, ' Bless me, oh my 
father Washington ! ' With one hand upon my head, and the 
other patting my cheek, he smiled, and bowed his head repeat- 
edly. To me the face appeared luminous, and resembled the 
portraits of Washington, and yet there was a something which 
made one think of Mrs. Miller. When the subtle laws which 
govern this wonderful phase of spirit manifestations are better 
understood, we shall all know that every genuine materialization 
must partake, more or less, of the characteristics of the me- 
dium. But that the face upon which I was gazing, and the 
tall figure which I had seen, were not Mrs. Miller's face, nor 
Mrs. Miller's form, I am very certain. Dr. Watson was called 
to the aperture, and after gazing on the face, which he also 
pronounces luminous, two firm, manly hands took hold of his 
face on each side, and pressed it together distinctly three times. 
The spirit then spread the miniature flag over the Doctor's 
head, and with this decoration he returned to his seat." 

I copy from the R. P. Journal a few lines of a letter from 
Mrs. Lewis : 

" Mrs. W T atson played the organ, and we sang two or three 
hymns. And now what do you think took place ? Why, out 
came Washington, with power. In a moment he saw the flags 
with which we had adorned the cabinet. He took one and 
' waved it repeatedly ; then took me by the arm and walked all 
round the room. Some of the friends present cried • some 
cheered ; some jumped up and down and exclaimed, ' Glory 
4 



74 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

to God, it is really our Washington ! ' He came out again and 
again, looking splendidly, and then Martha came out also in 
beautiful white robes. Dr. Watson is perfectly delighted, and 
I am so pleased with my success. Oh ! who can doubt after 
witnessing such manifestations under such test conditions ? " 

While form manifestations are the most demonstrative of any 
phase of Spiritualism, and have been occurring in all ages, they 
require the utmost vigilance to prevent fraud upon the part of 
those who control them in both worlds. 

This phase is on the material plane, and we think that spirits 
near the earth are mostly engaged in it. That they will mis- 
represent the persons who appear, and often use the medium, 
without their knowledge, to personate the relative of some one 
present, we can not doubt. 

That man is dual, is almost universally admitted. That he 
is a trinity, though not so generally received, we believe is 
equally true. He has a material body adapted to the natural 
world, and that he has a spiritual body is plainly declared by 
St. Paul, When the natural body dies, the spiritual body is the 
covering of the spirit proper, which mortal eyes can not be- 
hold. This trichotemy of which he is composed are but counter 
parts of each other in appearance. 

We have believed and preached for more than a score of 
years that such was the independence of the inner man of the 
outer man, that the former could come out of, so to speak, and 
act independently of, the physical organization. There are 
thousands of facts which have been occurring in the histories 
of nations which can not be accounted for upon any other 
hypothesis. 

There is a second self, or double, which we possess, which can 
separate from, so far as the natural eye can determine, and act 
as the natural or material body, united, however, by an electri- 
cal cord, the sundering of which would produce the death of 
the physical body. 

We have alluded to this subject in order to say a few words 



Materialization. 75 

more in regard to what is commonly known as materialization. 
The double of the medium is a fruitful source of deception in 
this phase of Spiritualism. We will not for a moment question 
that there will be seen something of the medium in all the persons 
who appear. Their make-up is, to a great extent, dependent 
upon the medium for the material from which this temporary 
organization is effected. We have the highest spiritual author- 
ity for saying there has never been a materialization but that 
there was something of the medium seen in it. This will ex- 
plain many difficulties- in the minds of those who have seen 
their friends possessing some resemblance to the medium. 

But while we admit this necessity, and that the more inhar- 
monious the conditions the more imperfect will be the mani- 
festations, or more like the medium, yet there is deception 
often practiced by controls, in palming off the double of the 
medium for a relative or friend of some one present. The 
medium may be honest, but being Entranced, and under the 
control of spirits, may be entirely ignorant of the deception. 
Our spirit friends tell us that whenever we see two or more 
persons at the same time, they can not be the medium's double. 
Also that when we see children, they are not the medium's 
double. 

We repeat what we have previously said : Watch closely 
these materializations, and accept nothing as genuine which 
does not demonstrate its own truthfulness beyond all doubt. 

FROM THE " SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE " EDITORIALS. 

Having devoted much time to the investigation of that 
phase of Spiritualism known as materialization, for several 
years, we thought after our success with Washington, in our 
library recently, that we would suspend our investigations in that 
direction. This we have not done. We accepted an invita- 
tion to witness the baptism of an infant of Mr. and Mrs. 
Owen, by Mr. Shindler, formerly, when in earth-life, an Epis- 
copal clergyman. Mrs. Miller, dressed in dark clothing, was 



76 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

tied, as usual, and was soon entranced — apparently dead. A 
number of females dressed in white came from behind the 
curtain, shaking hands with us. We were particularly struck 
with "one, known as the " Spirit Bride." She was tall and 
graceful, moving with dignity and ease across the room. She 
was magnificently dressed in white satin, with a trail some two 
feet or more long. When she turned round her dress made 
the usual noise of such goods. She was a fine specimen of 
female beauty and gracefulness. Just beside Mrs. Mary Dana 
Shindler, her husband, in his Episcopal robes, came out, taking 
the infant from its mother (Mrs. Owen), and bringing it to us, 
placed it in our arms. He then took it near where the mother 
sat, when it was named. Placing it on his left arm, his right 
hand extended as high as he could reach, he baptized it as 
naturally as a mortal man could have done. Mrs. S. said the 
performance was just as he used to baptize when officiating in 
the Episcopal Church. 

The next night they came to our house to give a seance. 
We had pretty good gas-light. The number of persons who 
came out dressed in white we can not say ; they did not move 
about with that caution so common in public assemblies, and 
seemed to have no fear, but made themselves very familiar with 
us. We asked them to stand with their backs against the wall, 
to be measured. Five of them complied with our request. 
We give the height of each one, as measured by J. W. Beau- 
mont, of Philadelphia. One female, four feet six inches ; one 
four feet eleven inches ; one five feet six inches ; one three 
feet ten inches ; one five feet nine inches ; one man five feet 
ten inches. Mrs. Miller's height is five feet two and a half 
inches. It will be seen that none of them were of the same 
height as Mrs. Miller. There was much that occurred which 
was of thrilling interest to us, that we need"' not mention. 
They cut out pieces of their dress and gave us — beautiful 
white goods ; it might be of the same kind mentioned in the 
Bible as the clothing of the saints— in "fine linen"— or like 



Materialization. 7 7 

the young man's "long white garment " seen by the Marys at 
the sepulchre. 

We could write much about these seances, but have said 
enough to show honest people that we were not deceived as to 
our realizing the presence of a considerable number of persons 
from the spirit- world. 

What most highly interested us was the appearance of our 
wife's first husband, and our dear little Sammie, on that occa- 
sion. Less than a year before the cherub boy was in this library 
every evening, in joyous glee, singing with others, walking the 
floor with his book, keeping time with the music. When very 
much delighted, he would jump up in ecstasy. This night the 
darling boy came out to the table, some one handed him some 
candy, when he jumped up as in earth-life, showing that he 
was not in Elmwood Cemetery, but with us still, around our 
home circle, and able to manifest himself to us as in other days. 

MATERIALIZATION OF WASHINGTON. 

Having been invited to witness a seance with Mrs. Miller 
as the medium, we deviated from our purpose and attended. 
There were about fifteen persons present, several of them to 
us strangers. Soon after the medium went behind the curtain, 
dressed in dark clothing, a number of female forms came out, 
dressed in purest white. They passed around amongst us, 
shaking hands with us, and making themselves very familiar 
with us ; they went into an adjoining room, the folding doors 
of which were open, and brought a number of things out and 
gave them to us. They played on the piano, violin, and ac- 
cordeon, showing they were familiar with the use of those 
instruments. They took a number of the company in the other 
room, remaining with them for a considerable time, perform- 
ing a number of things as natural as mortals, passing into the 
other rooms and bringing articles from them to us. One of 
them brought a photograph album to us. It was intensely 



78 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

warm, and one of them brought a dipper of ice-water to each 
.of us from an adjoining room, and after all had been waited 
on, she brought another and drank it herself very near us. 
One scene was very affecting. One of them was a young lady 
w T ho passed away a few months since. She stood beside her 
mother for some time ; she then came to her physician, who 
lived near her and knew her intimately. He sat nearest us. 
We stood up close together, shaking hands and examining her. 
We asked him if he recognized her; he replied that he did, 
calling her by name. They held up the curtain a number of 
times and let us see Mrs. Miller, apparently dead, while they 
stood beside her. One of them brought a chair near us and 
performed on the violin. Their object seemed to be to show 
us they were human as in earth-life. One of them went before 
a large looking-glass, combing her hair, spending considerable 
time arranging her toilet, while we, leaving our seat, watched 
her movements closely. The most interesting materialization 
was that of Washington. Skeptics will, of course, smile at 
our credulity, but we will state facts that will be attested by 
every one present. 

A large, manly form, resembling Washington, came out, 
dressed in military costume. Walking up near us, he took off 
his hat, bowing gracefully to us. He stood up with one of the 
tallest doctors in the city, who said the form was higher than 
he was. He was asked- to come out with his Masonic regalia. 
Stepping behind the curtain a moment, he came out as a Ma- 
son. Taking a chair, he sat down beside our friend the doctor 
and ourself, each of us handling him. He not only looked 
like the Father of his Country, but felt like real flesh and 
bones as mortals have. We could write pages in regard to this 
seance, but the Thomases will not believe unless they can feel 
the forms and recognize the individuals themselves. This is 
being done by many all over the world. 

The next night, being our family circle meeting, our spirit 
wife wrote : "The seance last night was more powerful in re- 



Materialization. 79 

gard to genuine materializations than you are in the habit of 
witnessing. Last night there were materializations which 
would have convinced our skeptical committee could they 
have witnessed them. Somehow or other these wonderful 
performances can never be effected when there is a necessity 
for them. This is because the conditions are always disturbed 
by the medium's wiry mentality. She gets wrought up to such 
a mental struggle as to make her subject to control of like 
peculiarities. They will impose their control, because she is 
not able to resist, owing to the state of mind before entrance- 
ment. This is a mystery, but we in spirit-life feel the influence 
as much as you do, and can not bring our power upon her any 
more than you can to accomplish any desired object. We have 
been disappointed as often ; for we have often desired to 
accomplish that we failed to do, just because the medium was 
more subject to spirits who control for other than good pur- 
poses. Bear this in mind, and when you meet with failure?, 
put it down to the influences above stated rather than an indis- 
position of your spirit friends to gratify your desires." 

We asked her if that was Washington whom we saw last 
night. " It was so much of him as could be manifested through 
such magnetism." 

While at the Centennial, I saw, under strict test conditions, 
very remarkable materializations at the second seance of Mr. 
Bliss ; also through Mr. Holmes. Whilst lecturing there in 
May, 1878, I was the guest of Col. Kase and his good lady. 
At their hospitable mansion was a young lady, Miss Mary 
Holien, who was one of the best mediums I have ever seen. 
The spirits manifest themselves in various ways over the house. 
At her seances they bring her out and promenade with her ; 
several seen at the same time. At one of the seances they 
materialized some very fine lace with great rapidity. Some 
of them showed themselves in bright gas-light with their 
fingers, wrists, and arms almost literally covered with splendid 
jewelry. 



8© The Religion of Spiritualism. 

I witnessed many wonderful manifestations at Terre Haute, 
in June, 1879, with Mrs. Stuart and Miss Morgan- — the latter 
under strict test conditions. Time and space would fail me if 
I were to write what I have seen. 



CHAPTER VII. 

BIBLE PROOF — DR. J. M. PEEBLES' TESTIMONY — REV/ 
THOMAS COLLEY'S EXPERIENCE. 

We come now briefly to notice what the Bible says in regard 
to this phase of manifestation. Mankind want something 
tangible— something of which the senses can take cognizance. 
Thomas declared that he would not believe in the resurrection 
of Jesus unless his eyes could see and his hands feel the wounds 
made at the crucifixion. No matter how intellectual mankind 
may be, in the investigation of facts they depend very naturally 
upon their senses ; and when these faculties unite in their testi- 
mony, there is no higher tribunal to which they can appeal to 
know the truth. This is why we have devoted so much time 
to this peculiar phase of the subject. 

Ours is called a Christian nation, and a very large propor- 
tion of our people profess to believe the Biblical history. 
However much they may live in the violation of its teachings, 
it wields an influence on the popular mind that no other book 
does. It will reach the masses and attract the attention more 
readily than facts drawn from any other source. 

This Book abounds with this phase of Spiritualism — from the 
" three men who stood by" Abraham, whose feet he washed, 
and who ate the meal his wife prepared for them under the 
tree, all through the Old and New Testaments, to the angel 
who appeared to John in the Isle of Patmos. 

One of these materialized spirits seems to have been in close 
4* (81) 



82 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

contact with Jacob for some time at night. Gen. xxxii. 24 : 
" There wrestled with him a man until the breaking of the day. 
.... And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh." 

We are often asked, why do these materializations require 
darkness ? We might answer that recent discoveries by Pro- 
fessor Crookes show that light is a motor power, and prevents 
that chemical action necessary for these manifestations. We 
w T ould be gratified if some of our inquisitors would inform us 
why most of the spirit manifestations in the Bible occurred at 
night. It is a singular fact that there is scarcely a phase of 
modern Spiritualism, from the sublime to the ridiculous, that its 
counterpart can not be found in the Bible. 

The Father of his Country on some occasions has not only 
materialized his person so as to be recognized by all present, 
but his uniform, as he wore it when struggling for the inde- 
pendence of his country. This he did within a few feet of 
where we now write. On some occasions, when the conditions 
were favorable, he materialized his sword. So Joshua saw "a 
man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand ; and 
Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us, or 
for our adversaries ? " This man was doubtless the one who 
was promised to be sent before Israel, to bring them into the 
place prepared for them. " Beware of him and obey his voice, 
provoke him not, for mine angel shall go before thee." 

A materialized a man " appeared to Manoah's wife several 
times before he saw him. When Manoah first saw him he 
asked him, " Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman ? 
And he said, I am." After he had accomplished his mission 
he " ascended in the flame of the altar/' " and appeared no 
jfcore to Manoah and his wife." 

In 1st Kings xix. it is recorded that an angel cooked a meal 
for Elijah. "And he arose and did eat and drink, and went in 
the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights." 

One of the most interesting spirit manifestations is recorded 
by three of the Evangelists. I copy Luke's account of it as 



Bible Proof. t 8$ 

given in chapter 28 : " And it came to pass about eight days 
after these sayings, he took Peter, John, and James, and went 
up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed the fashion of 
his countenance was altered, and his raiment was w T hite and 
glistening. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which 
were Moses and Elias, appeared in glory and spake of his 
decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter 
and they that were with him were heavy with sleep, and when 
they were awoke, they saw his glory, and the two men that 
stood with him." 

This was indeed a glorious manifestation of spirit presence. 
The Jewish lawgiver was not permitted to go over into Canaan 
because of one offense in the wilderness. The old prophet 
had, according to the history, ascended in a chariot of fire far 
away, but they meet with Jesus and His three favorite disciples 
upon "a high mountain" where they had gone for the purpose 
of prayer. 

There are many Spiritualists now who have witnessed simi- 
lar manifestations. These are occurring all around the world, 
and those who hive had these heavenly visitors, as some of 
us have, are better than ever before prepared to appreciate 
these glorious privileges. Such manifestations are becoming 
more frequent, and I believe the time is not far distant when 
the veil between the two worlds will to a great extent be 
removed. This manifestation was typical of the glory of the 
new dispensation which is dawning upon the world. Give but 
the conditions necessary and we shall have them. Let the 
pure in heart ascend the mountain to pray, having their aspira- 
tions ascending up on high and the spirits of just men made 
perfect will be attracted to the holy assemblage, and heavenly 
communion and recognition will be the result of such meetings. 
Angels appeared to the women who came to embalm the body 
of Jesus. "As they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, 
two men stood by them in shining garments, saying, ' Why seek 
ye the living among the dead ? ' When they reported what 



84 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

they had seen to the disciples their words seemed to them as 
idle tales, and they believed them not." 

We see in the resurrection of Jesus and His showing Himself 
to Mary Magdalene : she supposing Him to be the gardener, 
did not recognize Him ; nor did the two of His disciples, as 
they talked together and did not know Him as they went that 
same day to a village called Emmaus. When the eleven gath- 
ered together Jesus himself stood in their midst, and said unto 
them, " Peace be unto you." But they were terrified and 
affrighted and supposed they had seen a spirit, a type of the 
manifestations of the present time. The unbelief of all the 
disciples first, and of Thomas, who declared he would not 
believe unless he could see with his eyes and feel with his 
hands, a type of the mass of skeptics at the present time. 
Finally, after giving them the most satisfactory evidence of His 
identity, showing them that He could visit them when the doors 
were shut and vanish out of sight from the table when they 
recognized Him, " He led them out as far as to Bethany, and 
He lifted up His hands and blessed them, and while He blessed 
them He was parted from them." There are many who have 
witnessed similar scenes to this, of meeting and parting, and 
rejoice to know that the time has come, that Jesus said would 
come, that we should see the angels descending and ascending 
upon the Son of man. Luke says, " While they beheld Him, 
He was taken up, and clouds received Him out of their sight." 
"And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went 
up, behold ! two men stood by them in white apparel." 

We have thus seen that from the birth to the ascension of 
the Author of Christianity, spirit presence and spirit commun- 
ion with mortals form by far the most interesting portion of 
the history of the founder of the Christian religion. 

It is very evident that the Apostles and primitive Christians 
relied very much upon the tangible evidence afforded them 
to demonstrate the truth of Christianity. The resurrection of 
Jesus is the basis upon which the whole superstructure rests. 



Bible Proof. 85 

Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, 6l If Christ be not- 
risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." 

Whatever is claimed for the resurrection body of Jesus, per- 
tains to the bodies of His brethren. "We shall be like Him," 
is the declaration of the highest authority. The two Marys 
were the first who saw Him. " After that He appeared in 
another form unto two of them as they walked and went into 
the country. And they went and told it to the residue, neither 
believed they them. Afterward He appeared unto the eleven 
as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief 
and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which 
had seen Him after He was risen. And He vanished out of 
their sight." 

On another occasion " Jesus himself stood in the midst of 
them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were 
terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 
And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled, and why do 
thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my .hands and rny feet, 
that it is I, myself. Handle me and see ; for a spirit hath not 
flesh and bones, as ye see me h'ave. And when He had thus 
spoken He showed them His hands and His feet. And while 
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, He said unto them, 
Have ye here any meat ? And they gave Him a piece of 
broiled fish and a honeycomb. And He took it and did eat 
before them." 

Some will doubtless think it awful to state that we have seen 
similar things occur at our own home. The "hands and the 
bare feet have been seen and felt by us. Also the pulse, 
showing that the materialized body was for the time being per- 
fect ; not as Jesus says, a spirit, for the natural eye can not 
see a spirit. We have seen them eat and drink as naturally as 
mortals, when there was no possibility of being deceived. 

John, who wrote some time after the others, says that Mary 
" saw Jesus standing and knew -not that it was Jesus. Jesus 
saith unto her, Why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? She 



86 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if Thou 
have borne Him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, 
and I will take Him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She 
turned herself 'and saith unto Him, Rabbi, which is to say, 
Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I have not 
yet ascended to my Father." 

"The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, 
when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled 
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and 
saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, 
He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were 
the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." 

The fact here stated, that the " doors were shut," is obviously 
given to show that matter is no obstruction to materialization. 
Brick walls present no obstacle to spirits entering, and in a 
moment show themselves as perfect human beings. This we 
have seen often in our library. 

There are many like Thomas, who wish to place their hands 
in the wounds of Jesus before they will believe ; yet he did not, 
when he saw them, desire any further evidence of the identity 
of his Master. He relied upon the most deceptive of the 
senses for his knowledge of the fact of its being really the risen 
Jesus. Not only the world, but the disciples, needed tangible 
evidence of immortality. Jesus gave them that evidence in His 
own person. The early Christian writers relied on physical 
evidence for a confirmation of this glorious truth. 

Luke, writing to Theophilus, referring to the " former treat- 
ise," alluding to the gospel he wrote, says : " To whom he 
showed himself by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 
forty days, and speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of 
God" (Acts L 3). 

Again, Acts x. 40, 41 : " Him God raised up the third day, 
and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto wit- 
nesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink 
with Him after He rose from the dead." 



Bible Proof. 87 

How many " witnesses " were there of the resurrection of 
Jesus ? And how long time was He seen of them ? Forty 
days. We have thousands of living witnesses of the resurrec- 
tion from the dead, now, all over the world, not for a few weeks, 
but for years they have been seeing, handling, eating and drink- 
ing with some of them, under circumstances which admit of no 
doubt of the individuality of those who come to give us proof 
of such a nature as Thomas required to make him believe. 

That age needed that kind of evidence of the truth of immor- 
tality. The Sadducees believed in neither spirit nor resurrec- 
tion or any existence after death. This age needs the same 
testimony. Materialism has well-nigh spread over the intelli- 
gent portions of Europe. The intellect of our country is 
rapidly drifting in that direction, and if Spiritualism does not 
stop this tide of skepticism in regard to a future mode of existence 
we shall soon be overwhelmed with its influence. We hope 
and believe that materialism will be exterminated ; but by what 
instrumentality is this to be effected ? We can not tell ; but our 
conviction is, that this materialization phase of Spiritualism 
will be the instrument by which this glorious work will be ac- 
complished. 

Dr. J. M. Peebles and myself have had some very interest- 
ing seances mornings, he seeing his relatives and I seeing 
mine, and holding sweet converse with them. We witnessed 
one manifestation together (I had seen it several times), an 
account of which was published in the R. P. Journal, We make 
the following extracts from it : 

MRS. T. W. MILLER. 

M It seems a marked purpose of the spirit-world just now to 
present before us the materialized forms of the departed. But 
the term ' spirit materialization ' is too vague, too inexact, to 
apply to this form of manifestation. Spirits do not materialize. 
Essential spirits can no more become matter than cause can 
become effect. Unseen intelligences, versed in spirit chemis- 



88 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

try, have the power to collect and use the aura of mediums, 
the emanations of individuals, and the elements of the atmos- 
phere, manipulating and molding the same into shapes, forms, 
and garments of immortals, in which spirits appear. As it is 
the glove of the gloved hand that we see, so it is the constructed 
clothing of the spirit that our eyes behold. And then again, 
there is no doubt but that it is ' the double ' of the medium 
that is often seen. That the spirits of certain mediums occa- 
sionally leave their bodies for a time, I have the fullest proof. 

" Mrs. Miller is an excellent medium for slate-writing and the 
phenomena of materialization. These phenomena, so common 
now, require no minute description. I will, however, mention 
this test condition that I applied to Mrs. Miller in the presence 
of Mr. Miller and Dr. Watson. The medium had taken her 
seat in the cabinet and become entranced. Her hands, her 
limbs were rigid and cold. While she was in this state I took 
from my pocket a small thread-like string, and putting it around 
her neck, tied it in hard knots behind, and then tied the same 
to the back of the chair. The curtain of the cabinet was then 
dropped ; and yet, before I had got off from the platform a 
spirit form, clothed in white, stepped out in full sight. Dr. 
Watson saw it — we all saw it ! 



"spirits by starlight. 

"Conversing about. Mrs. Miller's mediumship with Dr. Wat- 
son, he assured me that •neither a house nor a cabinet were ab- 
solutely necessary to seethe manifestations attending this Mem- 
phian medium : 

" ' What do you mean, Doctor ? ' 

" ' I mean that these spirits may be seen out in the fields by 
moonlight or starlight/ 

" ' Have you witnessed anything of the kind ? } 

u ' I have, several times.' 

" ' Can such a privilege be granted me ? ' 



Bible Proof. 89 

" ' Most certainly ; if the medium's delicate health will per- 
mit of such a nightly excursion during this damp weather.' 

" The evening and the hour were agreed upon. At the ap- 
pointed time we were treading the streets leading toward the 
outskirts of the city. Now we pass a gate ; climb a fence > 
travel a few yards, and are in an open lot or common. There 
are five of us present, Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Dr. Watson, Mr. 
Stillman, and myself. We halt ; keep silent ! Mrs. Miller is 
partially influenced. Now she is clairaudient. The spirits 
wish us to step aside two or three rods and remain quiet. We 
obey. It is clear, and the stars are shining bright, We can 
see Mrs. Miller distinctly, hear her talking with invisible intelli- 
gences. She kneels and prays. Rising we see by her side a 
spirit form clad in white. And now there is another ; and ere 
long, still another appears, a soldier, seemingly dressed in a 
dark grayish suit. But the medium is exhausted and falls to 
the ground. We lift her up. In this half rigid trance state 
she can not stand. Her husband rubs her hands, her arms, and 
pathetizes the brain till consciousness returning, we return by 
the same winding way, not doubting that our forefathers saw as 
they said, warning angels by the wayside and ghostly figures in 
grave-yards. 

"fire from heaven. 

" Spirit lights or fiery lights have been given at seances ; and 
have been seen many yards by clairvoyants. Such phenom- 
ena are as ancient as the records of the Old and New Testa- 
ment. In connection with the s burning bush' that remained 
unscorched, Moses saw a ' flame of fire.' The patriarch 
Abraham saw a c smoking furnace and a lamp of fire.' A 
4 pillar of fire ' guided the Israelites out of Egypt ; and 
1 cloven tongues like as of fire ' sat upon the Apostles. So 
while Dr. Watson, myself, and others were out in the open 
field on that auspicious evening in Memphis with Mrs. Miller, 
awaiting the re-appearance of more spirits, there appeared 



90 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

suddenly a flash, or flame of fire above the medium's head, 
falling to the earth, kindled into a blaze the twigs, grass, and 
leaves, partially fading, then brightening up, and lasting, I 
should judge, some two or three minutes. And so modern 
spirit manifestations continue to parallel the ancient." 

It was our intention to give only those manifestations we had 
seen under strict test conditions with a number of mediums. I 
can not, however, resist the temptation in closing this phase to 
make some extracts from Rev. Thos. Colley's — A. M., late of 
the Royal Navy — account, which he with others witnessed and 
published in London, England. At a public reception given us 
in that city in 1873, we made the acquaintance of this medium, 
the Rev. Dr. Monck, who made an address on that occasion. 

The preachers are among the most incredulous of any class 
I have met with. In these wonderful manifestations given be- 
low, the narrator, the medium, and the spirit, Rev. Sam'l 
Wheeler, are all ministers. They represent a clerical trio in 
the regular succession, belonging to a Church of the greatest 
Christian nation, upon whose dominion the sun never sets. I 
give them for the special " benefit of the clergy" that they 
(i may take due notice thereof and govern themselves accord- 
ingly." I have only space for a few extracts, published by 
J. Burns, London. 

ci The next sitting for materialization was that of Monday, Oc- 
tober 8th, and was, like the one above described, hastily im- 
provised and accidental, though I believe spiritually appointed. 
My report of it appeared in the Medium of October 12th, and 
is as follows : 

" * Bewildering phenomena; yes, says the self-satisfied cynic, 
bewildering to those whose wild fancies suggest a wilderness 
where common-sense has never farmed the mental waste, 
where brain capacity is small, and proper discipline, thoughtful 
application, diligent study, and the observant powers never had . 
scope to bring to cultivation the rational faculty — bewildering 
not, else. 



Bible Proof. 91 

"' Well, I have written some, and seen much, and pondered 
more, and yet I am puzzled still. A fool quickly settles a mat- 
ter, but a matter last night settled me, unless a fool in the con- 
viction that as things go, the time is not far off when the invisi- 
ble will be very clearly seen, and the intangible very sensibly 
felt ; when matter will rarefy to spirit, and spirit solidify to mat- 
ter, and a strange metempsychosis not unfrequently take place, 
wherein one of earth, properly qualified, may go on a spiritual 
excursion into the realm of mind, and one of spirit, rightly con- 
ditioned, be able to come on a visit to us for a few days into 
this world of matter; the one using the life-atoms and bodily 
constituents of the other adapted to his temporary need, while 
he from us, taking on the nature of spirit, shall occupy the 
place in the unseen of our mysterious guest, and as a locum 
tenens tentatively do his duty in the higher life, the thread of 
his life here, and its obligations and divine purposes, being 
taken up and observed and outwrought for the time by the 
angel incumbent with whom he has made spiritual exchange.' 

" Now, if this is not the wildest stuff ever written out of 
Bedlam, it is a sane prophecy of future possibilities ; and last 
night's experience warrants me in thinking it rather of the lat- 
ter. Dr. Monck was again medium. Four of us constituted 
the circle, all in perfect rapport with our instrument, having 
that confidence in him which is of knowledge, which yet, for the 
sake of others, and the better to observe what transpired, did 
not prevent us from taking every care in the application of 
tests that should answer for the genuineness of the manifesta- 
tions and satisfy the most exacting. 

" The sitting was wholly for materialization, and the first form 
that appeared was that of a child, as it were, as we on this side 
of eternity would say, about six or seven years of age. This 
figure in view of all grew out of the medium's left side as he 
stood entranced before us. It had all the actions and ways of 
human childhood ; clapped its little hands, pursed its mouth to 
kisses, and spoke in pretty accents, Dr. Monck, under control, 



92 The Religion of Spiritualism. , 

speaking to it and instructing it like an elder brother. Then 
after a few minutes' further stay, sliding back into the medium, 
it gradually disappeared. 

" The next form was none other than Dr. Monck' s old earth 
friend, fellow student, brother minister, and chief spirit-control, 
c Samuel Wheeler.' When he in like manner issuing forth 
first stepped from the medium into separate being, Dr. Monck 
was unconscious, under control of ' Lily,' and her voice 
through him contrasted very markedly with the voice of the 
materialized form — it, to the very syllable, being the voice of 
' Samuel' as when speaking through the medium. But this 
did not satisfy our spirit friend, for the marvel of the night's ef- 
fort had yet to culminate. Conditions being so good, ' Samuel ' 
thought he might dematerialize .and awake Dr. Monck, and 
then be able to rematerialize with the medium in his normal 
state, fully alive to all that transpired, and conscious of the 
astounding fact we were to witness ; and successful, beyond all 
conception of the mystery, was this most unique experiment ; 
for after the first alarm of Dr. Monck had passed away, and 
after the pain and nervous snatchings he felt in the process of 
his friend's evolution from himself had subsided, medium and 
spirit-form conversed naturally together, and the astonishment 
and glee of the former were only equaled by our profound sense 
of inability adequately to grasp at first the vast significance of 
this amazing demonstration of occult power. Equally with the 
child-form did 'Samuel Wheeler' show all the attributes of 
humanity, and, in his case, reason and ripe manhood, as in hers 
girlishness and simplicity. He was not unlike the medium in 
stature, form, and bearing \ and one of our company having in- 
timately known ' Samuel' in the earth-life (being frequently 
one of his congregation when our spirit friend was, as our 
medium also was, a Baptist minister), unhesitatingly declared 
that this 6 Samuel Wheeler ' was that Samuel Wheeler, and 
none other. 

" So foi some time the spirit, temporarily clothed with earthly 



Bible Proof. 93 

elements, molecular agglutinations, and atomic gatherings, that 
thronging in from spirit-attraction and life-magnetism, clinging 
round the soul — Deity's central fact — form the visible man, the 
spirit thus endued, compacted, and embodied, stayed and talked 
with us, walked about with his old friend Dr. Monck, and 
greeted his other friend joyfully, and did many other things to 
show how perfectly he was a man, and then at last, psychologi- 
cal laws (about which we are altogether in the dark) compelling, 
reluctantly retired, and drifting back into the medium, threw 
him into trance and resumed control. 

IC And now a new sensation was in store for us. A spirit-form, 
eight inches taller than Dr. Monck, grew from him by degrees, 
and building itself up into giant proportions with muscular 
limbs developed like statuary of bronze, and of the color, there 
came into disconnected, independent, vigorous life, apart from 
the medium, an ancient Egyptian. From its general aspect, 
dress, and manner, I addressed it as such at once without a 
moment's doubt or hesitation. For Ancient Egypt has been a 
favorite study with me, and in modern Egyptians I have, when 
in the East, endeavored to trace the ancient masters of Israel 
and the sciences, and have dreamed amid the ruins of the Tem- 
ple of Isis, and sketched the blue tuniced and turbaned descend- 
ant of the Pharaohs, and have pleasant recollections of an Egyp- 
tian Fellah, Zozab, who used to accompany me through the ba- 
zaars, and pioneer me through the intricacies of Suez ; and if 
ever Bulwer's Arbaces the Egyptian, in the ' Last Days of 
Pompeii,' had existence other than in the mind of the author, it 
was here embodied in the materialized form I handled and 
closely scrutinized last night. 

" The vitality and power of this spirit were remarkable ; it 
walked with manly step and dignified carriage round and about 
the room, before and behind us, without fear or hesitation ; 
appeared curious about, and leisurely inspected, the furniture 
and ornaments of the room ; took up a chair and placed it on 
the table ; brought us books and other things, and then, tak- 



94 - The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ing the chair from the table, placed it close to mine and sat 
down at my side. Meanwhile I closely introspected it, and felt 
its anatomy, the medium standing at my left side while « Ma- 
hedi ' (the Egyptian) was seated at my right. I now got the 
spirit to measure hands, placing its palm on mine. The hand 
(stone cold, while tke medium's was burning hot,) was small, 
like all Easterns, and the wrist was also small, but the arm was 
massive, muscular, bronzed, and hairy. Its eyes were black 
and piercing, but not unkindly ; its hair lank and jet, and 
mustaches and beard long and drooping ; its features full of 
life and expression, yet Sphynx-like. Its head-dress was very 
peculiar, a sort of metal skull-cap with an emblem in front, 
overhanging the brow, which trembled and quivered and glis- 
tened. I was suffered to feel it, but as I did so it seemed to 
melt away like a snow-flake under my touch, to grow solid again 
the moment after. 

" Altogether our mysterious visitant was a weird and everlast- 
ing puzzle. But for the sake of an inner circle studying with 
me the correspondence and causative philosophy of these mys- 
teries, I am instructed to say that * The Mahedi ' is the ' Com- 
ing Phase,' and that what I have thus been the first to witness 
has yet to develop to something out of all proportion to any- 
thing at present experienced or even dreamt of. 

" But other matters of moment transpired too recondite to be 
lucidly recorded, and at last our new acquisition from the 
' Grand Man ' through mortal man retired, and bowed a silent 
adieu, and as I had done with other spirit-forms in their exeunt 
and exit, I, at the distance of a few inches only, watched ' The 
Mahedi' s* absorption into the body of the medium, and his 
gradual disappearance, till he was merged viewless into the 
boundless hereafter through this mortal gate of access to the 
mysteries of the other life. 

" But Dr. Kennedy was now invited to draw equally near and 
realize more closely with me the marvel of the separate identity 
of the spirit-form from the medium, and as we stood, looking 



Bible Proof. 95 

with all our soul upon the mighty fact oi spirit birth from mor- 
tal mart) Dr. Monck, still entranced, placed the lovely visitant 
from the inner world between us, and, affording it the support 
each of an arm, we advanced with onr sweet spirit-companion 
some steps further into the room. Meanwhile, holding the 
hand of the spirit- arm that rested on mine, I felt the wrist, palm, 
fingers, and finger-nails ; it was in every respect a living hand, 
answering to my touch, yielding to pressure, having natural 
weight and substance, and all things pertaining to humanity, but 
it was damp and stone cold ; and the thought passed through 
my mind, how, like steam, first invisible, congealed, is then seen 
as cloudy vapor, which, precipitated, may finally take solid form 
in ice, this figure at my side had, by a somewhat analogous pro- 
cess, been rendered visible and tangible from the vital force, 
viewless and imponderable, of the medium, being, under the 
chemistry, not yet understood of the higher life, congealed into 
the nebulous condition instanced of the form's first appear- 
ance, further to solidify into the lovely creature we supported 
and wistfully beheld. 

" But, not to theorize, I now come to the climax of the night's 
most wonderful phenomena. 

" When the form at last retired, I was, as an extreme favor 
which might cause the medium great prostration, permitted to 
accompany it, and draw near with it slowly and cautiously, un- 
til I came again close up to Dr. Monck, as he, still entranced, 
stood forth full in view of all, waiting to receive back unto him- 
self the marvelous aeon, phantasm, or emanation that we must 
call angel or spirit. As it neared him the gossamer filament 
again came into view, its attenuated and vanishing point being, 
as before, toward the heart. By means of this subtle cord, I 
noticed how the psychic figure seemed to be sucked back into 
the body of the medium. For like a water-spout at sea — fun- 
nel-shaped — or sand column, such as I have seen in Egypt, 
horizontal instead of vertical, the superior vital power of Dr. 
Monck seemed to absorb and draw in the spirit form, but so 



g6 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

J* 
gradually that I was enabled closely to watch the process ; for, 
leaning against and holding the medium, with my left arm at 
his back, and my left ear and cheek to his breast, his heart 
beating in a most violent and alarming way, I saw him receive 
back the lovely birth of the invisible spheres into his very per- 
son, and, as I gazed for the last time on the sweet face of the 
disintegrating spirit, within three or four inches of the features, 
I marked its fair aspect, eyes, hair, and delicate complexion, 
and kissed the dainty hand, as, in process of absorption, it 
dissolved, and saw the angel face disappear and fade, as it was 
drawn, positively, into the bosom of the medium. Gazing 
thus closely, with awe and breathless interest, did I, therefore, 
watch the departure of our angel-friend, and through the liv- 
ing gate and avenue of the medium's very self, did I, with 
feelings indescribable, mark the steps of her progress to regain, 
through the living organism and body of Dr. Monck, her home 
in the viewless spheres." 

Having a great desire to make the experiment of spirit pict- 
ures, we consulted our spirit-wife in regard to it. She said : 
" I will go with you to Mr. Hartman's, and will stand at your 
back, so the picture will be directly in a line with yours.' 
Addressing her sister-in-law (the medium), she said : " You 
must go with him, so we can direct any change in position that 
may seem best for the picture to be plain. We are anxious to 
have it so all will recognize it. Be sure to go to-morrow and 
sit for the picture." 

Eleven o'clock found us at Mr. Hartman's gallery. He had 
just moved and was not fixed up — had not tried to take a pict- 
ure. Dr. Child, of Philadelphia, and Dr. T. B. Taylor, were 
present, and we determined to have strict test conditions. 

The plate was examined before being placed in the instru- 
ment. Dr. Child and ourself went with the artist until it 
was taken out. Three times there was nothing visible on it 
but ourself. The fourth sitting a lady is by our side, about as 
plain as our own likeness. Our spirit-wife wrote: "Your 



Bible Proof. 



97 



mother stood in front, and her picture is the only one that is 
visible on the plate." There were other shadowy forms on 
the plate, but only one having distinct features. (This picture 
we have had electrotyped, and it appears on this page). 

We were then directed to sit again, having our sister-in-law 




JAY J. HARTMAN, SPIRIT ARTIST. 



by our side. A good picture was then taken of us, and two 
children very plain above her head. Mollie wrote : " These 
are our two children, Sammy and Willie, who died at Green- 
5 



9 8 



The Religion of Spiritualism. 



wood. I don't want a picture unless it is so plain that my 
friends will recognize me." 

This picture was made December 25, 1875, m Cincinnati, 
by Jay J. Hartman, under the most rigid test conditions, in a 
gallery he had never visited before, with camera, glass, and 




TEST SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPH. 



chemicals of a skeptical photographer, all of the manipula- 
tions of the plate being done by a skeptical photographer, Mr. 
Hartman simply standing by the side of the camera with his 



Bible Proof. 99 

hand resting thereon, never entering the dark room, nor at 
any time seeing or handling the plate, and all the time closely 
watched by sixteen respectable, intelligent gentlemen. 

"Cincinnati, December 25, 1875. 

" We, the undersigned, having taken part in the public in- 
vestigation of spirit photographing, given by Mr. Jay J. Hart- 
man, hereby certify that we have closely examined and watched 
the manipulations of our own marked plates, through all the 
various workings in and out of the dark room, and have been 
unable to discover any sign of fraud or trickery on the part 
of Mr. Jay J. Hartman. 

"We further certify that during the last sitting, when this re- 
sult was obtained, Mr. Jay J. Hartman did not handle the 
plate or enter the dark room at any time." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CHRISTIANITY — SPIRITUALISM — SCIENCE. 

Four thousand years, according to the Mosaic chronology, 
had been numbered with the dark ages of the world, when the 
Herald of the Nazarene came baptizing the people of Jndea. 
There was universal expectation that some extraordinary per- 
sonage was to make his appearance about that time in the 
world. The Jews expected a temporal reign of their Messiah 
and deliverance from the Roman Government. This mighty 
conqueror had extended her dominion over the civilized world, 
and the Augustan age of peace was commencing its universal 
reign. The imposing forms and ceremonies of the temple 
service continued, but the house of prayer had become a den 
of thieves. The teachings of Moses were silent as to im- 
mortality. The pains and penalties which attached to a vio- 
lation of their laws had no reference to a future state what- 
ever. Nor was any inducement held out to encourage a life 
of virtue by hope of reward beyond the present state of being. 
The Hebrew Church was wholly materialistic in its theology. 
Life and immortality had never been brought to light even 
among the intellectual nations of Greece and Rome. 

Such was the condition of the world when the Founder of the 
Christian religion, spoken of by the latest of the Jewish prophets 
as " the Sun of Righteousness," arose from the humble walks 
of life and " spake as never man spake" in regard to things 
pertaining to man's etemaiMestiny. As the image of the nat- 
ural sun paints itself upon the mists before his rising, so the 
(ioo) 



Christianity— Spiritualism — Science. ioi 

Baptist gave some foreshadowing of Him whose shoes he was 
not worthy to unloose. What this forerunner was to Christian- 
ity, the Swedish seer has been to this, the most remarkable 
movement of modern times. As " coming events cast their 
shadows before them," so this herald, though unappreciated in 
his day, was preparing the world for the reception of the 
glorious truths revealed through the instrumentality of modern 
Spiritualism. 

Foreboding spirits precede great events. The future is, to 
a great extent, foreshadowed by the present. This "has been 
true in all ages ; it is especially so in the present, Any one 
who will survey the present various phases of society, and con- 
sider the aspects presented and the modes of thought which 
prevail, will discover the course we are taking. The " signs 
of the times" are numerous and very clear to the observing 
mind. Prominent among the phenomena that stand out in 
bold relief, indicating very clearly what is to spring out of it in 
the future, is this movement. This is very clearly one of the 
"signs of the times." It has made its appearance under pe- 
culiar circumstances, and at a period when there was perhaps 
a greater need of it than at any other time in the world's history. 
Its influence upon thinking minds has already been felt to an 
extent without a parallel in the history of our race. When it 
shall have accomplished its mission, revolutions in science, in 
theology, and in government will be effected, which, if an- 
nounced at present, would startle even advanced thinkers 
upon this subject. 

I. It dema?ids investigation as a science. 

In its phenomena it is a science of precisely the same char- 
acter as those upon which other sciences are based, and it 
demands to be investigated in the same way. Upon this fact 
we take our stand, and maintain that in the conclusion we have 
arrived at we are following out the strict Baconian principle of 
induction. 



102 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Many theories have been invented to account for the spirit- 
ual facts, but the objection to them all is, that even if true, 
they are totally incompetent to account for all the phenomena. 
The spiritual hypothesis alone will cover all the ground occu- 
pied by all the facts, and as that is the case, we are following 
the strictest principles of scientific reasoning in adopting it. 
The Copernican system of astronomy is only known to be true 
upon this principle, and the same will apply to every recognized 
law of nature. We maintain, therefore, that we are acting in 
accordance with the spirit of scientific investigation in coming 
to the conclusion that the theory of Spiritualism is true. We 
have, therefore, no more right to set it aside in consequence of 
difficulties, real or imaginary, that may happen to accompany 
it, than we have to relinquish any other well-recognized law of 
nature, either in chemistry, geology, or any other science, be- 
cause we may not be able fully to comprehend all that it in- 
volves. The real business of science should be to investigate 
all facts, no matter what their character, so as to arrive at a 
sound conclusion in regard to them. 

II. It demands investigation on the ground of its philosophic 
pretensions. 

If Spiritualism be true, it propounds a new and most impor- 
tant system of philosophy. This should be sufficient to entitle 
it to a critical investigation. Philosophy has almost become 
defunct in modern days. Science has usurped its place un- 
justly, because the mission of each is different, and neither can 
legitimately perform the functions of the other. Some there 
are who endeavor to show that in modern times philosophy is 
impossible ; that all it has done in the past has been to lead us 
to positive science. This is in harmony with the materialism 
of the age. In the ages of the past, when metaphysics was 
made the main subject of study, man was said to be the meas- 
ure of all things, and his nature was viewed from the internal, 
and not from the externa*! stand-point. This order has been re- 



Christianity — Spiritualism— Science. 103 

versed in modern days. Now he is made a part of the great 
scheme of material nature — one of the cogs in her mighty 
wheel, with no more power to alter the arrangements sur- 
rounding him than any other machinery. Mind is said to be 
the function of the brain, and volition, instead of being an orig- 
inator of force, is held to be simply one of its forms, driven into 
action by external circumstances, in the same way as electricity 
is evolved from a battery. Science has degraded man to a mere 
automaton, which has to be put in motion by some power ex- 
terior to itself. 

There are some errors which this materialistic age has 
taught, which must be corrected ; and we believe that the de- 
velopments of spiritualistic teaching will do more than anything 
else toward giving us correct views of ourselves — of our physical, 
mental, and spiritual natures. Mind is the originator, as well 
as the director of force. In fact, all force must have its origin 
in mind, and but for mind, force would be non-existent. The 
inference from cardinal principles is obvious. All nature is 
governed by a Supreme Mind, whose will is expressed in phys- 
ical law. Whether we view it in the laws which govern in 
our planetary system, more than eighty millions of which ex- 
ist in the physical universe, or in the smallest particles of which 
any of these worlds are composed that the microscope reveals 
to our sight, the same indications of the Infinite Mind are mani- 
fested. 

Spiritualism tells you that the material part of man is not the 
man, no more than the coat you wear is yourself. It is only 
the covering in which he appears in this transitory state of his 
mortal existence. Therefore the real basis of all sound philos- 
ophy is the spirit — the Ci inner man." The external man does 
not produce the internal, but, on the contrary, the internal 
molds and governs the external. That extraordinary man to 
whom we have referred taught most plainly what modern Spir- 
itualism has demonstrated to be true, that the real man is the 
spiritual being, not the material. His philosophy is being 



104 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

proved to be true every day by spirit manifestations, and 
will ultimately drive materialistic theories into oblivion. 

III. // lifts the veil between the natural and the spiritual 
world, and reveals much in regard to mart s future in the other 
life. 

Man groped in utter ignorance for thousands of years in re- 
gard to any life beyond the present. Not only the ignorant 
pagan, but the most enlightened nations of the world knew ab- 
solutely nothing respecting the most important subject that 
ever engaged the attention of man. Even in this, the latter 
part of the nineteenth century, a large proportion of the intel- 
lectual world deny any existence for man beyond the present. 
With a cold, blank, cheerless atheism on the one hand, and the 
cruel dogmas of the Church on the other, it is most assuredly 
something to obtain a clear insight into the spirit-world. Mod- 
ern Spiritualism, like Christianity, came into the world when 
it was most of all needed to enlighten the world upon this most 
important subject ; the Church teaching an everlasting lake of 
fire and brimstone to all who did not accept certain dogmas, 
and a grim materialism declaring that at death consciousness 
would be extinct, and that annihilation was to be the fate of 
all. Between these two horrible destinies we scarcely knew 
which was the worst. Both were bad almost beyond concep- 
tion. The Church attacked atheism, because it attempted to 
destroy man's brightest hopes and crush out every noble aspi- 
ration of his soul. Atheism attacked the Church, because she 
laid heavy burdens on men's shoulders too grievous to be borne 
—ruled her subjects with a rod of iron- — exercised over all be- 
longing to her fold a despotic tyranny, and hurled her cruel and 
vindictive anathemas at all outside her pale, threatening them 
with torments forever. An internecine war had been raging 
between the contending parties when Spiritualism stepped into 
the breach between then], crying, " Stay your hand and stop 
this warfare ! Come and let us reason together. Atheism, you 



Christianity — Spiritualism — Science. 105 

are right in endeavoring to bring to an end this undue power of 
ecclesiastical tyranny. And you, the Church, are right in using 
your utmost power to destroy the blank and cheerless prospect 
of annihilation." In this matter Spiritualism has done good 
service to mankind, though its good results are not so manifest 
now as they will be when the two belligerent parties can look 
at these questions from a spiritualistic stand-point. The way is 
now opened to the spirit-world to men's eyes that had been so 
long closed by priestly dogmas on the one hand and dark 
skepticism on the other. A brilliant flood of light followed in 
her train, and the nations are being illuminated by its beams. 
Spiritualism has come to bring back to man those grand and 
glorious truths that have been so long lost sight of, and to re- 
store those primitive doctrines taught by divinity eighteen hun- 
dred years ago. 

The great question of more importance than any other of 
which we can conceive is, What is the great object of my 
creation, whither am I tending, and where is to be my eternal 
home ? We maintain that these questions are more satisfacto- 
rily answered by Spiritualism than by any other system the 
world has ever known. It is furnishing a solution to the prob- 
lem which has troubled mankind more than any other. It says 
to the desponding mourner over the loved and lost, " Come 
hither, hear, see, feel, and knoiv, that your departed friends 
still live, and because they live, you shall live ; receive the 
assurance that you shall live also." The riddle of the uni- 
verse is read — the mystery of ages revealed. The question 
which has been asked thousands of times, propounded by Job, 
" If a man die, shall he live again ?" has been answered in the 
affirmative. Correcting the translation, and reading as it is, 
c * If a man die, shall he live on ? " is true ; he lives on forever. 
11 There is no death ;"* but what is so called is only a birth to 
a higher life, leaving behind him all that he received from earth, 
and carrying with him all the development he has made in his 
intellectual and moral nature. What Socrates hoped for, Jesus 

5* 



to6 The Religion oe Spiritualism. 

taught, and Paul believed, and we most assuredly know. We 
do not wish to convey the idea that immortality was not known 
until the advent of modern Spiritualism, far from it ; but we do 
say there are classes of mind, and that number has been in- 
creasing with great rapidity among the educated both in Europe 
and America, that have not been reached by the testimony 
which they have had of immortality. They have demanded 
something more tangible than they have ever found to demon- 
strate the fact of any existence after the present. This age is 
a matter-of-fact age. Man has asserted, and will forever main- 
tain, his right to think for himself. The day of blind adher- 
ence to human authority has gone ; the age of faith in othei 
men's testimony is rapidly passing away, and demonstrative 
knowledge is what is demanded by the age. It demands the 
evidence of sense, and declares it will not be satisfied with any 
other. These are the strongest and most conclusive, the most 
overwhelming demands that can be made, and yet it is the 
very kind that Spiritualism proposes to meet. All this is now 
easily furnished by spirit manifestations. Let the skeptic ask 
for whatever evidence he may, it can be forthcoming. It can, 
therefore, confront materialistic infidelity as nothing else can, 
attacking it upon its own ground, and strangling it with its own 
weapons of warfare. 

IV. Its social doctrines. 

If the teachings of Spiritualism were to be practiced, its in- 
fluence on society would be very salutary. It is calculated to 
effect great changes for the better among mankind. It enun- 
ciates the great and glorious principle taught by Jesus in His 
first sermon on the mount, when He inaugurated the principles 
of His divine system known as Christianity — but, alas ! has been 
lost sight of by many who profess to be His followers — that all 
men are brethren, and should act toward each other as such. 
There is a bond arising out of our common humanity and im- 
mortality of man, that should bind all humankind in one close 



Christianity — Spiritualism — Science T07 

union that should destroy discord and prevent war. No matter 
what zone may have given him birth, or what sun colored his 
skin, he has claims upon his brother man which can not be ig- 
nored with impunity. These are the sacred principles taught 
by the Nazarene and by good spirits. The angels in the 
heavens were once human beings, and they are our brethren 
still, loving us, " going with us, caring for us, as life's journey 
we pursue." They watch over us, and take an interest in all 
we do to benefit our fellow-creatures. They come on errands 
of mercy from the bright summer land, and bring to us mes- 
sages of peace, goodness, and truth. 

Love to God and man, the divmest principle in God's uni- 
verse, is the leading characteristic of the highest forms of spirit 
teaching. It is the fulfilling of the whole law, as taught by 
Christ when establishing His system of ethics. Sectarianism, 
that bane of the churches, should find no place in the spirit 
circle. Being human, we are necessarily imperfect, and liable 
to err ; and from this fact we should learn to look leniently on 
the errors of others. None of us can be infallible ; no, not 
even His Holiness of the Vatican, despite his pretensions and 
dogmatism. . This commodity should have no place in our 
teachings. Spiritualism informs us that errors in judgment 
pertain to those who have passed to the other side of the great 
river, and that consequently we must submit all we get from 
them to our own judgment, and practice the utmost toleration 
toward those who may differ with us. Let Rome and the rest 
of the old churches dogmatize, and hurl their anathemas about 
us as they will, but let us employ none of it ourselves. " Exalt 
the right, though every ism fall." 

Progression is enunciated more clearly through Spiritualism 
than in anything else. Belief in eternal progress is one of 
its most distinguishing features. There is no standstill taught 
by good spirits. Growth in knowledge^ wisdom, love, advance- 
ment, on the high-road of God's truth, and the elevation 
of soul approximating the divine, arc the principles taught by it, 



io8 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

and to which the Spiritualist clings. Its philosophy never 
rdsts. Its law is progress. The point which was invisible 
yesterday, is its goal to-day, and will be its starting-point to- 
morrow. Whatever point may be gained in earth-life, will be 
the starting-point of spirit-life. In the future world progress 
goes on forever, and happy are they who have made a good 
commencement here. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT CONTROL ILLUSTRATED BY 

SCIENCE. 

It is a very important question in the progress of our in- 
vestigation of this interesting subject, how are the phenomena 
produced ? A medium is said to be a person whose body gives 
off a peculiar kind of magnetic aura — an invisible fluid — sup- 
posed to be the connecting link between mind and matter, and 
through the agency of which the human spirit is supposed, 
while in the flesh, to control the physical body. We are told 
that all persons give off this magnetic or mesmeric aura, which 
is visible to clairvoyants, but not to the ordinary sight of mor- 
tals ; that these emanations surround and form a " sphere " 
around the body of every human being, and that this sphere in- 
fluences our actions and feelings more than we are aware. 
This mesmeric atmosphere which surrounds all persons, more 
or less, is, so to speak, semi-material, essentially personal, and 
varying therefore in quality and quantity, according to in- 
dividual circumstances. In and through this atmosphere, 
which, though passing through the " natural body," is yet per- 
fectly independent of it, and which will be retained when it 
is cast aside, the spirits of our departed friends are 
supposed to communicate with us, it being the only com- 
mon ground between us and them. The source of this subtle 
fluid is most probably the blood, seeing that the nerve fluid 
varies in different individuals, and with the same person at 
different times, and that the blood is the life, and the great 

(109) 



no The Religion of Spiritualism. 

nutriment stream of physical existence, it is most likely dis- 
tilled from it. 

It is well known that many mesmerists can control some of 
their subjects physically and mentally, to an extraordinary ex- 
tent, and that, too, without coming in actual fleshly contact 
Avith them ; that this is effected through the nerve aura of the 
operator, acting on the nervous system of the subject. Now, 
if he can do this, it requires no great effort of the imagination 
to fancy that a disembodied spirit, through the agency of the 
nerve aura, may be able to control persons turned mediums, so 
that they shall act in accordance with the desire of the spiritual 
mesmerist. The spirit, in fact, would seem to entrance the 
medium partially or entirely by means of this same fluid, and 
then proceed as in the mundane sphere to use the orgmism of 
the subject as a mechanical contrivance for articulate speech 
or physical manifestation of any kind desired. 

This we had demonstrated in my library recently by Bro. 
J. E. Merriman, who had been a resident of Memphis for about 
forty years. He had been a member of an orthodox Church 
for many years, and always occupied a high position in every 
respect in this community. He passed away a few months 
since. 

He was a very decided Spiritualist. He had been an officer 
in our spiritual organization from its commencement. Some- 
times lectured for us, and was one of our best speakers in our 
conferences. He controlled Mrs. Hawks for some time, giving 
us tests of his identity, etc. He* gave us the philosophy of the 
control he had over the medium His power had greatly 
increased since he passed over. He said in the form, Mrs. 
Hawks wasmore positive, and could control him, but that now, 
with the permission and assistance of her band, he could con- 
trol her with ease. His spirit did not enter into her body, but 
he moved upon the aura which surrounded her, and thus con- 
trolled her tongue to utter his own language, and that she 
could not prevent it. It was intensely interesting for us thus 



Philosophy of Spirit Control. hi ' 

to meet, where we had so often met and listened to others who 
controlled this and other mediums, to have one of our own 
party, of our own circle, to come and give us words of cheer, 
and also the philosophy of his control of her to whom he had 
listened so often in our " Harmonial Hall" when controlled by 
some of the finest intelligences in the other life. 

Spirit acts upon matter, controls it, imparts the life it pos- 
sesses, gives it will, organization, being. In a word, it is the 
life of matter. The Divine mind, through a succession of 
laws and occult forces, controls the vast forces of matter, and 
makes it subservient to those laws, and thus works out the re- 
sult from atom to world, from world to sun, from sun to sys- 
tem ; and finally through the vast constellations of being 
comes immortality, all performing their work in response to 
His life. Such is the popular theory. Surely some of the 
laws whereby He does this may be known to the human under- 
standing. 

One of these laws has already been revealed in the form of 
gravitation. Motion is the sublime pnnciple of law ; the 
result of this physical fact being apparent in the starry firma- 
ment, and the outer world. Without motion there could be 
no life. And without life, as the result of motion, there can 
be no organized forms of being that exist. The human mind 
is finite. God is infinite. Yet the human mind is large 
enough to possess a resemblance to the infinite Spirit, and the 
same laws whereby the infinite mind acts upon universal mat- 
ter, enable the finite mind to act upon finite matter. Your 
spirits control your bodies. The laws whereby your spirits 
are to act are subtle and minute. The spirit you can not 
see. It may not be analyzed upon these subtle -forces. Your 
brain is controlled by your spirit. Disembodied spirits, also, 
are able to act, stimulating those molecules of nervous fluid 
that pass from the brain to every minute portion of the human 
body, thus causing impressions of the mind or physical vibra- 
tions of the body, conveying intelligence that does not come 



ii2 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

from your own mind, and manifesting their presence and 
power. 

This is why you should be perfectly passive in a spiritual 
seance. There can be no passivity of mind in a state of excite- 
ment. Could you see the spiritual aura, as it emanates from 
your minds, you would see these little whirlwinds all over the 
atmosphere, and spirits find it very difficult to approach under 
such circumstances. Be harmonious — be passive, therefore — ■ 
to enable them to come, for they can not unless you, as the 
disciples were, " with one accord," on the day of Pentecost, 
when the most wonderful spirit manifestations were witnessed 
that we have ever seen recorded in history. 

Magnetism, Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, and even Psychology 
belong to what is known as the realm of natural sciences. It 
is also known that these sciences are yet in their infancy, and 
that the laws which govern them are of so occult a nature that 
as vet no complete system has been developed whereby cer- 
tain results may be legitimately and distinctly foretold by 
known causes. Everything that belongs to mind, in connec- 
tion with these sciences, is as mysterious as before they made 
their appearance upon the surface of human thought. Yet 
methods whereby one mind may govern and control another, 
may be just as clearly determined as the matter whereby an 
atom may communicate, or sympathize, with another, or the 
sun, the center of the solar system, govern and control the 
planets. 

But as life itself is not known and understood, how can we 
suppose that mind — that most subtle of existing substances — 
can be understood ? 

Animal magnetism (as it is called) is that peculiar force that 
emanates from one human body and has its influence upon 
another human body. All substances are surrounded by mag- 
netic properties peculiarly their own. Whoever possesses most 
of this aura, or magnetism, has the most power and influence, 
and when it is accompanied by corresponding mental vigor it 



Philosophy of Spirit Control. 113 

produces what is known as mesmerism. Mesmerism is the 
result of this same magnetism under the -control of an indi- 
vidual of distinct and absolute will power. 

When a person wishes to mesmerize he avails himself of this 
magnetic aura that surrounds himself, and it is always the per- 
son possessing the strongest magnetic power that can, by his 
will power, control one of less positive will power. This mes- 
meric cortrol is governed by absolute distinctive laws, under 
the influence of mind. When he gets his subject under his 
control, there is a chain of sympathy established by which'the 
mesmerist can act upon the subject at a distance by the mere 
power of his will. 

Psychology, Biology, and other phases of mental control, 
ofttimes, without any physical symptoms of mesmeric sleep, but 
by the swaying of the mind, their thoughts, feelings, emotions, 
and beliefs represent those of some superior will power. The 
great secret of all mental control, in the world of great minds, 
is biology, or the mental vibration that corresponds to the 
physical vibration of magnetism. Mesmerism displaces the 
will, and directs the physical body through sleep, or through 
the suspension of its natural functions, withdrawing the mind 
by a process that may be similar to physical absorption. 

Clairvoyance is developed in mesmerism. Having placed 
his subject in mesmeric sleep, it is left for clairvoyance itself, 
independent of the mesmerist's power. Though clairvoyance 
was first discovered by the scientist through mesmerism, soon 
the clairvoyant traveled beyond the will power of the mes- 
merist, the body alone remaining subservient to his touch, 
while the mind investigated remote regions transcending the 
thought — far beyond the will or knowledge of the mesmerist. 

Science has thus, without designing or even knowing it, pre- 
pared the way for the introduction of the Spiritual Philosophy. 
The better we understand the principles of the influence of 
m ; nd upon mind, the more clearly we shall be able to compre- 
hend the philosophy of spirit control. The spirit mesmerizer 



1 14 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

is able to control the negative, or medium, better than he 
could have done while encumbered with an earthly body. The 
more we know of ourselves and the occult forces, of our 
mental machinery and the influence we can exert here upon 
others, the clearer will be our perceptions of tht Psalmist when 
he says we are " wonderfully made." 

Many eminent scientists and excellent members of ecclesi- 
astical bodies have, as individuals, taken hold of Spiritualism 
and hazarded name and place in its advocacy. It is obvious, 
to even these independent thinkers, that mental science and 
the influences of creedal faith have no connection with the 
modern movement*. The scientist finds that a new set of laws, 
differing from those with which he has been acquainted, must 
be studied before he can make any headway in the investigation 
of the physical phenomena. Many of these come in direct 
contradiction to what has been considered the fixed and settled 
laws of matter. Hence the scientist, having no instruments 
with which he can determine these things, moves slowly in 
surrendering what to him have been considered immutable 
laws — material modus operandi, which have been regarded as 
settled beyond the possibility of question by scientific investi- 
gation. 

The ecclesiastic throws himself back upon his dignity, backed 
by the supreme authority of pope, priest, and bishop, whom he 
has regarded as infallible. He can not surrender the creeds 
and dogmas of the Fathers in the Church. They have had 
the sanction of antiquity and the wisdom of the ages. These 
can not be ignored ; nor can the exorcism of creedal faiths, 
as conditions of salvation, be regarded in any other light 
than heretical. Hence the decided, and often violent antago- 
nism, from these two powerful agencies controlling public 
opinion. 

Having spent the larger portion of our long life in the prop- 
agation of these doctrines, I now most sincerely recommend 
all to investigate those principles which Spiritualism discloses. 



Philosophy, of Spirit Control. 115 

They will find them in the strictest harmony with good order, 
good morals, purity of heart and life, and the spirit of universal 
brotherhood. It is a profound study for the scientist as well 
as the teacher of religion. It is the religion of humanity as 
taught by the Founder of the Christian system. It embraces 
the principles upon which the Church of the future must be 
erected before it can ever receive the suffrage of mankind. 
When properly understood, it will force conviction upon the 
scientist of its truth, and demonstrate to the world that it is a 
religion which does fully justify the ways of God to man. 

The following communication is from my brother, who was 
a physician, and died before the war. It was written through 
Mrs. Hauks, for the Inner-Life Department of the Magazine: 

" Good-morning, brother ; good-morning, friends. I am 
happy to meet you. I have lingered long, waiting outside the 
wicket for my turn to communicate. As nothing of a personal 
nature is permitted to be revealed through this organism, I 
must come as one addressing you from the spirit plane with the 
view of imparting truths that are for all mankind. Our per- 
sonal communications, my dear Samuel, will be through the 
other medium. The agent desires that I give you a few words 
on the subject of dreams, trances, and clairvoyance. You 
must know, my friends, that there is a connecting link running 
through all these named subjects ; they all tend to lead into 
the same path, all speak of a dual life. Clearly they show the 
existence of the physical and the spiritual. The soul of man 
partakes of his material being ; compounded with the soul ele- 
ments are the material elements. The soul is the part upon 
which the spirit acts when exercising its desires through the 
material body. The mind that is brought into action through 
the brain receives the materi-al as well as the spiritual impres- 
sions. Dreams that take the slumberer back over the events 
of the past day are but the reflex motion of the material upon 
the spiritual element of the soul, awaking through the electric 
current the scenes impressed upon the aura that constantly 



n6 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

emanates from the brain ; such dreams come only in disturbed 
slumbers, when the action of the physical disturbs the repose 
of this aura. Too much food taken into the stomach at a late 
hour is often the cause of this ; diseased bodies are often vis- 
ited by dreams of a disagreeable nature. The pains that dis- 
ease brings to the physical form act upon the soul, and are 
telegraphed to the brain, reflecting upon it dark pictures 
created through a physically disorganized body. This aura, or 
subtle gas, surrounds the human body; fills the air that moves 
about the body ; every touch upon that aura quickens thought. 
If the slumbers be disturbed, then the action of the material 
form gives a semi-quickening to the mind, and brings into 
action all that is daguerreotyped upon the brain, and accord- 
ing to the diseased or healthy state of the body comes the pict- 
ure. Often when the body is in perfect repose, and the aura 
floating smoothly, spirit friends send their messengers of warn- 
ing, or events that have just transpired. A friend departed 
from the earthly body, dwelling at a distance from the sleeper 
at the time of his or her departure, whose love for that slum- 
berer is great, may give warning of their departure, by visiting 
the sleeper, and throwing their thoughts upon the soul of him 
wrio slumbers through the tranquil aura. 

" The trance condition in many instances is like unto the 
dreamer's condition, "when the material is in harmony with the 
spiritual. There are many phases of trance conditions. The 
unconscious condition is that where the spirit takes entire pos- 
session of the human organism. Placing the subject in a som- 
nambulic state, he subjects the party to his entire will, and 
controls every action of that body, using each and all of the 
organs as if they were his own, the sleeper being entirely 
ignorant of the acts of the power controlling. These stages of 
enhancement that come to individuals periodically, placing 
them in a state of passivity for days, weeks, and months, are 
but the action of spirit over matter ; and where the soul becomes 
quickened, it takes ideas and expresses itself upon subjects 



Philosophy of Spirit Control. 117 

never before apprehended, retaining, through the impression 
upon the brain made by the action of the aura, the surround- 
ings and visions while in the trance state ; being able, upon 
recovering from the sleep, to relate all that appeared unto the 
inner vision. In the semi-trance the individual has a partial 
knowledge of what is going on, but has not the power to con- 
trol his or her organs of speech ; can sometimes reflect and 
meditate upon the words that are being uttered through their 
own organism, but can not detain them. In this case the dual 
clearly defines itself; two minds are acting through one body. 
There is in this life a continual struggle between body and 
spirit. Man has not learned the law of harmony between the 
material and the spiritual. There is a warfare going on daily. 
The mind with its imperial power striving to control and over- 
master all, and yet every move of man's mind shows him to be 
depending upon his surroundings for all his actions ; just as 
when in the interior or entranced state, he is subject to the 
will of the person controlling him. The many degrees of 
entrancement are known by the conditions of the "being en- 
tranced, just as the difference of dreams is controlled by 
action on the subtle waves of ether that roll in disturbed waves, 
or lie in placid ripples about him. 

" Clairvoyance, that power of the soul to wander out through 
space independent of the body, comes at the birth of the 
individual — is constitutional. It is found oftener with the 
Scotch, and is there known as second sight. The harpers of 
the Highlands were famed for this wondrous power ; could 
foretell events by the power they possessed to exercise the soul 
independent of the body. There are clairvoyants who see 
only earthly objects. This we call independent clairvoyance ; 
but it is only independent as far as the Infinite has, through 
natural laws, created it independent. There is still the con- 
necting link «that brings through the dual life the spiritual, 
triumphant over the material : and when this power comes 
only at times, and without the actual knowledge of the mortal, 



n8 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

it is then subject entirely to the control of spirits — the inner 
vision is awakened to see spirit visitors and scenes in the spirit- 
world. Paul, when in the clairvoyant state, was lifted up into 
the third heaven. Guided by the law of God, his spirit was 
lifted from earth, and by the control of his guardian angel he 
visited the third sphere of the spiritual plane. John, upon the 
Isle of Patmos, controlled by the spirit prophet, entered the 
interior state, his soul became independent of his body, and 
directed by the angel controlling, before whom he would have 
fallen down and worshiped, but the angel said, * See thou do 
it not, for I am thy fellow-servant^ a fid of thy brethren, the 
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book! 
Here the clairvoyant visions were symbolically presented to 
John that he might see the corruption of the churches. If you 
will take the Bible and read it with a clear vision, looking 
through unstained glasses, you will there find clearly explained 
the power that controls the spirit of man, and enables him 
through dreams, and when under entrancement, to gain knowl- 
edge that is to advance his future welfare. He, the man, 
keeping his physical being in a healthy condition, that the aura, 
which, like swift-moving vapor, encircles his outer form, rapidly 
arising from the nerve center, may increase the influence of 
the spiritual over material. Let the body be healthy, and the 
spirit tranquil, that the action from the Infinite may move the 
electric waves, like the gentle breeze when it softly stirs the 
bosom of a placid lake. 

" Many things are taught us in this beautiful land, of which 
we knew naught when upon earth. Good-morning. 

" John A. Watson." 

We make the following extract from a lecture by Mrs. Cora 
L. V. Richmond, on the subject given by the audience, 

" IS MATERIALIZATION TRUE ? IF SO, ITS PHILOSOPHY." 

" Mediums for materialization are those who possess, there- 
fore, a certain amount of that nervous, or what we choose to 



Philosophy of Spirit Control. 119 

term psycho-dynamic power that is unemployed by themselves, 
but which spirits aware of its existence and of the method of its 
manipulation, can employ for the purposes of materialization. 
As the body, in its physical structure, attracts to itself the par- 
ticles of the atmosphere to sustain it, so the spirit can attract 
from the atmosphere substances and particles, through this 
force that exists in the materializing medium, out of which can 
be fashioned either the pictured likeness of the friend, the 
sculptured image, or the living and apparently vitalized form. 
And this law by which the vital forces of the medium are util- 
ized in this way, is a law of spiritual volition acting upon the 
medium, but the medium's mind having nothing to do with it, 
save the passivity with which the medium and the surroundings 
meet the effort of the spirit to do this thing. The agitation of 
a single wave of thought, the opposition of a single violent 
will-power, anger, suspicion, hatred, all violent passions, inter- 
fere with this normal circulation of the fluid that is employed 
by spirits in materialization. Hence you are frequently told : 
Be harmonious in your circles ; keep your minds passive ; let 
there be no violence ; let there be no suspicion. Why ? Be- 
cause, even as the various points of the magnet become de- 
polarized by certain processes, so these various atoms become 
depolarized, so far as the spirit-will is concerned, by the 
agitation of intermediate waves of thought, and can not be thus 
utilized. 

" When the conditions are perfect the perfect form is evolved ; 
when the conditions are imperfect various stages are evolved, 
and are considered failure ; sometimes are even considered im- 
postures. But supposing, in the process of taking a picture, 
you were suddenly to rush into the photographers dark cabinet, 
insist upon hauling out the plates and seeing what progress 
he had made, would it be imposture, on the part of the photog- 
rapher, if there was no real picture there ? So many persons 
imagine, because, during the process of materialization, certain 
things are discovered that do not seem to conform to their 



120 The' Religion of Spiritualism. 

ideas of what should be the state of affairs, therefore there is 
trickery. Do you consider the sculptor an impostor because 
when you tear aside the screen that veils the unfinished marble 
it is incomplete ? Do you consider anything in science an im- 
posture because it is interrupted before it is fully formed ? 

" You have heard that materialized forms or images have been 
interrupted in the process of development, and that various 
things, all confusion, seemed to appear in the cabinet. Did it 
ever occur to you that a spirit requires time and conditions to 
make perfect things, just as well as mortals, and that those 
conditions and that time may be as carefully preserved from in- 
terruption under all fitting test conditions that should be applied 
beforehand and not during the time of the materialization ? 

" Did it ever occur to you that the most delicate process in 
the universe must be that process that through occult forces 
evolves a palpable image to the sight of men? And the only 
wonder is, not that there are so few of these manifestations that 
are satisfactory, but that there are any, considering the delicate 
nature of the conditions required, and considering the rude, 
uncouth, and crude manner in which human beings proceed to 
the investigation of them. 

" If you would know the laws that govern materialization, you 
should guard them as carefully, preserve the conditions as 
sacredly, treat them with the same kind of deference and the 
same kind of reason that you do the carefully prepared plate, 
the electric battery, the various refined and subtle processes 
of chemical science that are oftentimes experimented with a 
thousand times before there is one successful result. 

" This substance upon which spirits act to produce the repre- 
sentation of material forms is" as we state, the most delicate of 
all substances which the human form holds, and is the one ulti- 
mate link connecting matter with spirit. Upon this spirit 
breathes its volition or will power ; an aura is created that draws 
just so much of the vitality from the form of the medium, and 
frequently from others who are in sympathy that are present. 



Philosophy of Spirit Control. 121 

These subtle and delicate atoms attract other corresponding 
atoms from the atmosphere ; and by this process of motion, 
which is created when these atoms are drawn from the form 
of the medium, the attraction goes on until either the picture, 
the sculptured image, or the vitalized form is revealed to the 
vision. 

"As we state, this process can only be comprehended by those 
who are accustomed to the subtle changes and transformations 
of chemical science ; can only be comprehended by those who 
have studied with the greatest care, perhaps, the writings of 
Reichenbach, Prof. Faraday, and others who have investigated 
to a certain point the occult forces connected with the human 
system ; and they must also go a step beyond this and under- 
stand that the volition of the spirit acting upon these sub- 
stances which are held in solution in the form of the medium, 
causes the attraction of other atoms, and the making up of the 
fabric which to that intent and for that purpose is for the time 
being materialized. 

" Sometimes the question is asked : Is it, then, only an image ? 
Certainly it is only an image. No one ever saw with mate- 
rial eyes an actual spiritual form. This is an image (the out- 
ward form) which expresses yourself to-day. No one pretends 
it is the man or the woman that sits here in the outer garb of 
material life, and fashioned and formed shapely or unshapely. 
It is simply the representation of the spirit. No one claims 
that this is the Ego — it is the outward image of it only. The 
difference between your form and the image which appears for 
the' time being as a materialized spirit-form is that yours has 
passed through the process of organic life, while the spirit-form 
is the result of the immediate created life given by the spirit. 
And this explains why, in ancient lore and among the biblical 
prophets and seers, there were frequently men described as 
angels, and messengers who walked and talked and ate and 
drank with them as angelic visitants, these forms appearing in 
the guise of men, and taking upon themselves the real form of 
6 



122 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

existence. But these images also had power to dematerialize 
and disappear again without organic process of decomposition." 

MATERIALIZATION. 

This is that phase of Spiritualism which is more convincing 
to skeptics than any other, but the truth must be sustained or 
the phase loses its effect. The spiritual mind does not require 
such manifestations, but the subject is being investigated more 
for the benefit of skeptics, materialists, and infidels. The sub- 
ject must be understood by minds who doubt the phenomena, 
by the material manifestations. The spirit- world is actively 
engaged in the development of mediums to perfect this phase 
of spiritual truth. It must be perfected before the material 
mind will accept it as truth. Magnetism is the element used 
by spirit action to so manifest the materializations that they 
can not be mistaken for the medium's double. Here is the 
great difficulty. Magnetism must be refined by spiritual de- 
velopment. This the mind so material can not understand, 
and consequently the harmony necessary to materialize is 
seldom found in promiscuous circles. Much has been said 
about imperfect materializations to the detriment of mediums, 
when in reality the mediums were unconscious of the manifes- 
tations transpiring from their magnetism. The objection often 
urged by skeptics in regard to dim light is more the want of 
information as to the influence which light exerts than a con- 
viction that the manifestations are not real. Light dispels the 
elements of materialization just as the warm rays of the spring 
sun melt the snows of winter. The water is absorbed or evap- 
orated — so the magnetism is absorbed by being thrown into 
repulsive elements. Diffusion is detrimental to materializa- 
tion, but repulsive elements are positively incompatible with 
materialization. 

Spirits must have proper conditions before they can influence 
matter in any form. This phase of Spiritualism is of a low 
plane, since matter is less refined than spirit; consequently 



Philosophy of Spirit Control. 123 

materializing mediums are less spiritual and less intellectual. 
Their natures are less inclined to spirit communion, hence 
their aspirations do not rise above the material plane. The 
materialization phase is gaining ground. Mediums are de- 
veloping with better surroundings, and the magnetism is, in 
consequence, less repulsive to spirits of higher order. This 
will give that phase an impetus which will dispel skepticism 
that could not be done from a spiritual and intellectual stand- 
point. Those so material as to believe spirit nothing more 
than matter refined, or no spirit at all, will have to invent 
another theory to solve the mysterious manifestations, as they 
are called. Those who deny immortality will see that their 
friends whom they knew in earth-life still live, and bring them 
light from that " bourne from whence (it is said) no traveler re- 
turns." This idea had its origin in the minds of those who 
never knew the power of spirit impression upon the mind, nor 
soul full of spiritual light. • " God is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living." Yes, God is life, and His creatures have His 
life in them, so they can never die while God lives. This 
manifestation of His power controls all living, moving intelli- 
gence. God is wisdom and power, and all matter He has made 
has from its creation been made to praise the author of its 
creation by carrying out His designs. All spirit is a part of His 
being, and will live throughout the eternity His being fills. The 
material is too much the study of the mind. The spiritual is 
the most important. God intends to make infidels and scoffers 
bow their knees and hearts to the truth, which shall soon be 
revealed in terrible power. The materialist will have to make 
the confession that God is spirit, and not matter refined. God 
is God, and God is spirit. " No man hath seen God at any 
time ; " no man will ever see Him only in the greatness of His 
power. Christ is the power of God manifested in the sphere 
of light and love. Christ taught this idea when He said, "I 
am the light of the world." He said, " How can a man love 
God, whom he hath not seen ? " By this He meant man could 



124 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

not love God in matter, but in spirit could see Him and then 
could love Him as He loved the Father who had sent Him to 
manifest His Spirit in doing His will. God takes care of His 
creatures in the spirit of His manifest Son, protecting them by 
the ministry of His angels. Oh, how the Scriptures abound 
with truth which, the mind being so material, is lost to their 
understanding ! 



CHAPTER X. 

BIBLICAL PROOF OF SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS— CLAIR- 
VOYANCE AND CLAIRAUDIENCE, ETC. 

I have been for many years in correspondence with minis- 
ters of the Gospel among the different Churches, who have com- 
municated to me freely in regard to their experience in spiritual 
matters, and my conviction is, that a very large number of 
them have had such phenomena occur with themselves, but 
they have not moral courage to let the Church or the world 
know of it. 

A solution of these things may be found in Biblical history. 
What occurred in the days of old, have been duplicated ever 
since. What was considered in those days as " miraculous or 
supernatural," is now known to be in harmony with the laws 
of man's threefold nature. Science has shed much light upon 
what was considered as from the Lord. Clairvoyance has been 
an acknowledged fact since the days of Mesmer, and the time 
is coming when those terms will become obsolete. 

I will, for the " benefit of the clergy," and those of like mind, 
refer to some cases in Biblical history which may enable them 
to understand this subject and their cases more satisfactorily. 

Clairaudience, the trance and clairvoyance (clear seeing) 
are recognized by St. Paul when enumerating the gifts under 
the Gospel. This he denominates " The discerning of Spirits." 
It is the perception of spiritual beings and things pertaining to 
earth-life as well. It may be divided into independent and 
subjective. In the former the spiritual perceptions act inde- 

(125) 



126 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

pendent of any extraneous spirit agency ; the latter when 
spirits impress a medium's mind so that they perceive whatever 
they will them to. Many persons have these visions or images 
pass before them. Some who, at times, are independent 
clairvoyants, have also these subjective scenes. There are 
persons also who are possessed of the faculty of seeing at a 
distance what is transpiring. This has been demonstrated in 
thousands of instances. Locality seems to have an influence 
upon this clairvoyant faculty. There is something in the at- 
mosphere of mountains, which seems to assist in its develop- 
ment. Among the Scotch Highlands and the Swiss mountains 
it is common. The mountainous country of Judea was favora- 
ble for the development of this faculty ; hence we find some 
of those among the worthies of olden time. Elijah and Jephthah, 
the prophet and the warrior, upon whom the " Spirit of the 
Lord " came, were both from Gilead. Elisha had this faculty. 
We find in the fifth chapter of second Kings, where Naaman 
was cleansed through his mediumship, and had departed ; the 
servant of Elisha, thinking as his master had received no com- 
pensation for the cure he had wrought, that he would collect 
the bill, so he ran after him and demanded a talent of silver. 
Upon his return, Elisha said unto him, " Whence comest thou, 
Gehazi ? " And he said, " Thy servant went no whither." 
And he said unto him, "Went not mine heart with thee when 
the man turned again from the chariot to meet thee ? Is it 
time to receive money. . . .The leprosy, therefore, of Naaman 
shall cleave to thee and thy seed forever." Elisha perceived 
what his servant was doing by his spiritual or clairvoyant 
faculty. 

^Again, in the next chapter, "The king of Syria warred 
against Israel and took counsel With his servants, saying, in 
such and such a place, shall be my camp." Elisha seems to 
have been able to know of the movements of his enemy, and 
warned the king of Israel, saying, " Beware that thou pass not 
such a place, for thither the Syrians are come down," "There- 



Biblical Proof of Spirit Manifestations. 127 

fore the heart of the king of Syria was troubled for this thing, 
and he called his servants and said unto them, will ye not show 
me which of us' is for the king of Israel ? And one of his 
servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet, 
that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou 
speakest in thy bed-chamber." Then again, in the same chap- 
ter we find a detachment of troops sent down to capture 
Elisha. " And when the servant of the man of God (Elisha) 
had risen up early and gone forth, behold a host compassed 
the city both, with horses and chariots, and his servant said 
unto him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? And he an- 
swered. Fear not, for they that be with us, are more than they 
that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray 
thee open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened 
the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold the 
mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about 
Elisha." 

Elisha being a clairvoyant medium, was enabled to see this 
heavenly host coaie to protect him from being captured by his 
enemies. They were probably the spirits of Israelitish war- 
riors, who, feeling a deep interest in the success of their kin- 
dred, were present to render whatever assistance was in their 
power. The young man. not being possessed of this faculty 
could not see the invisible host until it was imparted to him by 
the imposition of Elisha' s hands in answer to his prayer. We 
learn some very important lessons from this scrap of Biblical 
history. First, that ministering hosts are sent for the pro- 
tection' of mortals, and though they are invisible to the 
natural eye, are plain to the spirit eye. Second, that there is 
a powerful influence produced by prayer. There is another 
instance of Elisha' s clairvoyant powers in the latter part of the 
same chapter. The king of Israel became enraged against 
Elisha because he had' been directed by him, and sent an offi- 
cer to arrest him. " But Elisha sat in his house, and the 
elders sat with him, and the king sent a man from before him ; 



128 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

but ere the messenger came to hi?n, he said to the elders, See how 
this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head." 

Samuel presents another case of clairvoyance. " The asses 
of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul, Take 
now one of the servants with thee and arise, go seek the asses. 
.... So they went to the city where the man of God was. 
.... And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer. 
.... And for thine asses that were lost three days ago set not 
thy mind upon them, for they are found." This may seem like 
a small business for a prophet.. In these days it would be 
called fortune-telling. Samuel told Saul also that he would be 
king of Israel, though they had never had a king to reign over 
them. He was a prophet, for in those days we have Bible 
testimony that a prophet, a seer, and a medium were the 
same. 

In the history of Samuel, he is among the very few men 
against whom no charge has ever been brought in the Old Tes- 
tament. We find in him a medium of remarkable power. He 
was clairaudient when a child, and after he had been on the 
other side several years, he came to tell this same Saul whom 
he had anointed king of Israel, that on the succeeding day 
he and his sons would be in the Spirit-land. 

Joseph is another of the pure men of the Old Testament, jet 
if he had lived in our day he would be condemned, as he was a 
diviner, for we find in Gen. xliv. that he gave directions 
to the steward to " put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's 
mouth." This was Benjamin's sack. After his brethren had 
departed, he directed his steward to follow them, and upon find- 
ing the cup to say to them, " Is not this in which my lord drink- 
eth and whereby indeed he divineth" (ver. 5), and the 15th 
verse of the same chapter confirms this view where Joseph said 
unto them (his brethren), " What deed is this that ye have 
done ? Wot ye not that such a man asTcan certainly divine ?" 
Joseph, therefore, must have been a medium ; and if his history 
could have been written, it would be clearly demonstrated 



Biblical Proof of Spirit Manifestations. 129 

through his whole life that he had been controlled by angelic 
ministers. 

Jesus possessed this power far beyond any one in sacred or 
profane history, of whom we have any knowledge. It is not 
necessary to refer to the numerous instances where He exer- 
jcised it during His ministry. It was by this power that He was 
enabled to select His disciples, and though they were from the 
lower walks of life, they were perhaps all of them mediumistic 
to a greater or less extent. His power looked into the deep- 
est recesses of the human mind, and comprehended the inner- 
most thoughts of those with whom He came in contact. 
"Stephen had a clairvoyant view of the spirit-world before he 
passed over, seeing " heaven opened." Paul was both clair- 
voyant and clairaudient. So was John when he was " in the 
spirit" on the Isle of Patmos. I have not space to copy more 
of these, having given sufficient to prove that the clairvoyants 
of this age have powers similar to those given us in the Old 
and New Testaments. 

I will therefore give some Scripture proof of this state, which 
may aid in search for more light. The trance state is recog- 
nized both in the Old and New Testaments. It is an abnormal 
state, both of the mind and the body. Sometimes it resembles 
a profound sleep ; at others it bears a striking resemblance to 
death. Webster says, " It is a state in which the soul seems 
to have passed out of the body into another state of being, or 
becomes wrapped in visions." In medical science it is de- 
scribed as a total suspension of the mental powers and volun- 
tary motion, while respiration and circulation are continued. 
The true explanation of the trance state, like some other phases 
must be referred to magnetism. 

Our first knowledge of »this state was derived from reading 
the Bible. It is referred to as a condition in which persons are 
placed when they see and hear with their spirit senses. There 
is some similarity between this phase of mediumship and clair- 
voyance. In it the'faculties of the mind are in a more pro-- 
6* 



iSo The Religion of Spiritualism. 

found state of subjection to spiritual influences. The spiritual 
faculties are exercised, while the natural faculties seem to be 
dormant; or at least they are in subjection to the spiritual 
faculties. 

I have seen a number of persons entranced during the ex- 
citement of religious revivals. By reference to the cases men- # 
tioned in the New Testament, it would seem that they have 
been somewhat under religious or prayerful influence. Thus, when 
Paul was making his " defense " before the " chief captain," re- 
hearsing his history, he says (Actsxxii. 17), " And it came to pass 
that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in 
the temple I was in a trance. And I saw him (Jesus) saying unto* 
me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem, for they will not re- 
ceive thy testimony concerning me, and I said, Lord, they 
knew that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that 
believed on thee." Again (Acts x. 9) : '• Peter went up on the 
house to pray about the sixth hour. And became very hungry 
and would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into 
a trance and saw heaven opened." The two individuals chosen 
as subjects of this important case, represent the extremes of so- 
ciety, religiously considered, at that time. Peter was an Is- 
raelite of the most bigoted class. Cornelius was a centurion 
or captain of one hundred Roman soldiers. He represented a 
class that was utterly ostracised by the Jews as unclean, and 
consequently unfit to enjoy the Gospel privileges. We are 
told, however, that this Roman captain, Cornelius, " was a de- 
vout man and feared, with all his house, gave much alms to the 
poor, and prayed to God always." To this good heathen, who 
had retired in the afternoon for prayer, God sent one of His 
ministerjng spirits upon one of the most important missions 
that ever any " person " went to perform. It was to show to 
Peier and the Jewish nation that God was no respecter of per- 
sons. I am of the opinion that this same " man" who appeared 
to Cornelius was the same one that entranced Peter, and thus 
bsoke down the partition wall between Je 4 ws and Gentiles, by 



Biblical Proof of Spirit Manifestations. 131 

showing that the most important event that ever transpired for 
the promulgation of the Gospel, was accomplished through 
angel ministrations. It resulted in the revelation of the new 
and sublime truth, that the Gospel provision was for the Gen- 
tile world, for every nation under the heavens. " God is no 
respecter of*persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him 
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." 

This glorious truth, thus revealed through this spirit manifes- 
tation, is too little appreciated in our day. Paul was entranced 
when he was ordered to go and preach to the Gentiles. He 
was doubtlessly entranced when he was "caught up into the 
third heaven," for he says he could not tell whether he was in 
or out of the- body during that experience. These cases of 
trance show that this state has been recognized as one of the 
phases of spirit communion in establishing the primitive Chris- 
tian Church, and it is among the commonest phases of spirit 
manifestations of the present time. 

Our inspirational speakers are entranced, while some spirit 
uses their vocal organs for the purpose of speaking to the 
people. There is also a semi-trance state wherein the individ^ 
uality of the medium is not entirely obliterated. 

Mankind must be enlightened before they will receive any- 
thing that antagonizes their preconceived opinions, which opin- 
ions are more the result of education and association than the 
exercise of reason and judgment. The spiritual philosophy 
antagonizes all the teachings which have flooded the world in 
regard to the government of God and the salvation of the hu- 
man race. This philosophy has remained in obscurity and 
concealment, for the reason man has never received until 
within the past and present centuries sufficient knowledge of 
science to develop the hidden laws of nature to the under- 
standing of the human mind. The scientific developments in 
the natural world have led to the development of much spirit- 
ual truth and knowledge, because the discovery of human mag- 
netism and the electric forces which control the brain have so 



ij2 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

combined as to enable the spiritual to assert its superior force 
and bring matter under its control. The spirit in and out of 
the body come in raflflorf y a.nd so harmonize the electric forces 
as to enable the spirit out of the body to manifest through the 
material organism when the material is submissive or entirely 
passive to the might and will of spirit. 

I want to explain how the spirit comes to earth and takes 
possession of the human organism, and makes the things of 
earth and heaven known of which the medium has no knowl- 
edge. The brain of the medium is like the " sensitive plant," 
when you touch^t its leaves fold together — the appearance of 
power and life too are almost removed. The rays of the sun 
will bring it back to life and beauty when the influence of your 
touch has passed away. Just so with the medium's brain when 
under the influence of spirit control. The force of will and ac- 
tion is lost so far as they can exercise it, for the stronger influ- 
ence has control. Remove spirit control or power, and reason 
or mental activity asserts itself, because the brain is restored 
to its normal condition by the force of electric currents passing 
through the system of the medium. Electric currents which 
proceed from the brain are returned by other electric currents 
which proceed from the forces of nature. This is why the ma- 
terializing medium is held in a state of entrancement, in order 
that he or she may not receive the magnetism which comes 
from the persons present and the electric forces of the atmos- 
phere that naturally restore the brain when spirit power or 
magnetism is withdrawn. These currents are controlled by 
the spiritual chemistry, which mortals can 'not understand, and 
made to serve the purpose of materialization. When the me- 
dium is not in good condition, the laws of his or her brain are 
not perfect in their working; hence, spirits can not bring their 
forces to bear and thus speak, write, or materialize through 
their organism. Machinery must always be in good order, or 
the party running it will be perplexed and fail to produce re- 
sults which his knowledge and power could, if provided with 



Biblical Proof of Spirit Manifestations. 133 

the right means of making that knowledge and power avail- 
able. 

The spiritual philosophy is the grandest study ever presented 
to the human mind, and can reconcile all the mysterious and 
wonderful occurrences that have startled humanity in every 
age of the world. All the wonderful developments of science 
have been due to spirit guidance and might. Throughout all 
ages of t|ie world, spirits have returned to earth and influenced 
mortals in some way or other, God's plan of operating is not 
in mythical legend nor the imaginations of an educated brain, 
•for His laws always produce the same results when no ob- 
stacles interfere through ignorance of those laws. Mankind, 
whenever informed as to the working of God's laws, has never 
failed to inaugurate what has been termed a wonderful era in 
the world's history. When the mind has taken hold of nature's 
laws and unraveled the mysterious manifestations which have 
in different ages startled or raised the cry of persecution, then 
a new revelation has been made from the spirit-world and one 
more step has been taken toward the great and marvelous 
revelation which is now enlightening mankind in regard to nat- 
ural and spiritual laws, and how God deals with His creatures, 
thereby making the doctrine of immortal life a tangible truth. 

There is a deep and hidden law of mind and matter which 
makes them act in concert. The first chapter of John con- 
firms what I say. 1( this were understood, it would unravel 
the mysterious workings of mind and explain how its action 
subserves spirit control. The spirit which was in the begin- 
ning and was God was the Word, and not the humanity which 
dwelt among men. "Thewoidwas made flesh." This was 
manifest spirit and God. or spirit dwelt in the flesh, thereby 
showing how spirit controls matter for the accomplishment of 
God's own purposes. God is a spirit and works through agen- 
cies, otherwise you could have no comprehension of His 
mighty power. The orthodox view of the Word is, that -it 
was Jesus Christ who dwelt in the flesh. In Him the spirit 



134 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

which was in the beginning with God and was God manifestly 
dwelt. He was the life and the light of men. His light shone 
into the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. 
The minds of His disciples were too material to receive the 
spiritual illumination, and were more interested in His material 
manifestations than the spiritual truths He intended to teach 
by them. They did not understand that Christ was with them 
temporarily in the flesh to show them how God coujd make 
the flesh the medium of the spirit-power which controlled the 
mind and matter He had made to serve His own purposes and- 
will. When He instructed them in regard to the resurrection, ■ 
they did not recognize Him as the life and the light of men. 
" I am the way, the truth, and the life " were incomprehen- 
sible terms to them when He was crucified, dead, and buried. 
The light did not flash into their minds until after His resurrec- 
tion, when He appeared and gave tangible proofs of His iden- 
tity. Then they saw what power spirit had over matter, and 
believed He was verily and truly God. He told them differ- 
ently when He said, I can do nothing of myself. He knew to 
what power He was subservient, and how far He was made 
the agent of that power. 

COMMUNICATION FROM ROBERT DALE OWEN. 

Being desirous to hear from this apostle of Spiritualism, we 
invoked his presence in our library when the following was 
written through our home medium : 

" The mysterious philosophy of spirit communion has all 
been explained, from the tiny raps which occurred more than a 
quarter of a century ago, to the crowning work of materializa- 
tion, I do not mean that materialization is the cap-stone of 
Spiritualism, but I mean it is the cap-stone of phenomena ; 
there is more in one communion of spirit with spirit than a 
thousand phenomena,* let them be even more demonstrative 
than any which have been revealed. The communion which 
the spirit- man realizes when he rises to that plane of 



Biblical Proof of Spirit Manifestations. 135 

purity which God recognizes as His own image is that which you 
should covet. 

" My entrance into spirit-life was bright and glorious. I had 
made spirit communion with God and angels my chief concern 
while in the body and upon the shores of the ' Debatable 
Land.' I entered with joy. A convoy of angels met my in- 
corruptible body, and made me a welcome guest in their beau- 
tiful homes until mine was arranged for occupancy. This 
seems strange to you. Suppose you were to vjsit a strange 
country, notwithstanding your friends may have gone before, 
they may not have been able to arrange your home just exactly 
as might suit your taste and desire. You must have a word in 
its arrangement, of course, and then you will be happier in it. 
Now, this word, my friends, must be spoken and acted upon 
while you are in the body. The part you must necessarily 
take in the arrangement of your homes must be settled while 
in the body ! Oh ! how important to understand these things, 
and act according to the understanding. God is all-wise and 
powerful ; He does nothing that is not wisdom, love, and 
knowledge ; He made and fixed immutably His laws for the 
working of the grand machinery of His kingdom, natural and 
spiritual. How beautifully do they harmonize when His creat- 
ures obey them, as He has ordered ; His orders are manifested 
in the results which obedience or violation produce. 

" I would write longer to-night, but do not think it best. 
Sometime will come and tell Mr. Watson my views on organi- 
zation, as I now see the subject and understand the spiritual 
interest of it better than while in the body. Good-night. 

1 Robert Dale Owen." 

• 

We then asked him to tell us the philosophy of spirits com- 
ing when we specially desire or invoke their presence. The 
following was received in reply : 

" Oh ! how you have misunderstood the laws which connect 
spirit with spirit. There is a chain which binds the spirit-world 



136 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

in one complete whole. That chain is electric and caused to 
vibrate by the slightest spirit touch. Your desires cause this 
chain to vibrate with a sound much like that produced by the 
telegraph ticking when the message you desire is impressed. 
We in spirit-life are always listening for the click of the spirit 
chain. Then we know we are wanted, and we come to learn 
the nature of the mortal's desire. If we can satisfy we do, but 
if not and another can, we go at once for that one. The ex- 
isting desire on the part of mortals, and the willingness, yes, 
more than willingness, on the part of spirits to help bring them 
at once in rapport, and thus the communion is established. I 
can not make this altogether plain to you. As you have often 
heard, I must reiterate the impossibility of conveying a correct 
idea of spiritual living, and how mortals and spirits commune 
by comparing with things in the material world. Jesus did this 
when He taught His disciples, but they did not understand the 
spiritual import of His parables. You will never understand 
these things until you put aside the mortal part, and nothing 
but spirit is seen." 

The following was received soon after the above : 
" I come to fulfill my promise made when I first communi- 
cated with you from spirit-life. I wish you to know my views 
of the Christian feature of Spiritualism as I now understand it. 
There is more involved in the term Christian as regards the or- 
ganization of Spiritualists tlian I believed while in the body. 
Spiritualism must have circumscription before it can be suc- 
cessful as an organized body or power. You, who remain on 
the earth's sphere, must hear what the spirits who are one with 
you in the great work of converting the world have to say, 
since we can see more clearly than you what is best to be 
done, in order to make the organization one united whole. 
Organizations can exist without the union of soul and spirit in 
those who compose them. You know this, for you long served 
a body which has its thousands banded together without always 



Biblical Proof of Spirit Manifestations. 137 

being united in purpose, to say nothing of the want of union in 
faith. Many work without faith in the object designed to be 
accomplished. In the spiritual organization you must have a 
united faith as well as action. You can never make the com- 
pact one of success and utility without union upon the great 
fundamental idea, which is and must be Christian. The ortho- 
dox believers must see this idea prominent in the organization 
to elicit interest sufficient to draw them away from their church 
connections, notwithstanding the faith of many has ' waxed 
cold/ 

"I said in the beginning that there was more involved in the 
term Christian than I thought while in the body. We Spirit- 
ualists admit the Divine mission and power of Christ, and be- 
lieve the Christ principle which comes from the Father and 
dwelt in Jesus is to save the world. Now, if we believe this, 
and this must be the leading idea in organization, why not let 
the term Christian have its full force? No other term fully 
expresses the distinction between radical and phenomenal 
Spiritualists, and those who strive to enlarge the spirit man by 
reaching out for Spiritual light and holiness. No other term 
will carry with it the weight and influence, nor draw into the 
Spiritual ranks so much of the right kind of element. Jesus 
Christ must be your leader, and His precepts must be your life, 
otherwise you can not reach the plane of Spiritual perfection, 
which you must as an organization, as well as individuals, to 
convert the creeds and dogmas of the churches into the broad 
creed of spirit-communion, this communion being based upon 
the' teachings of Christ alone." 



CHAPTER XI. 

BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

There has been much misunderstanding among those who 
hold the orthodox view of man's nature in regard to the true 
signification of the penalty threatened Adam in case he partook 
of the forbidden fruit. This penalty is found Gen. ii. 17, 
" But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not 
eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
die." 

Theology teaches that as Adam did not die in the physical 
sense of the term, as now used, the opinion has generally ob- 
tained that the term death must in this case be taken to mean 
a spiritual or moral death. By carefully examining the mar- 
ginal reading it will be seen that the death threatened was not 
to be fully carried into effect in the very day he might eat the 
forbidden fruit. The expression, " thou shalt surely die," when 
literally rendered, dying thou shalt die, gives the true sense of 
the original. This would indicate a continuation of the act of 
dying, that he would begin to die that very day, and the pro- 
cess of decay and death would go on indefinitely until it became 
complete and final. By his own sin or disobedience to the 
mandate man sowed the seeds of decay in his own nature, the 
sure harvest of which would be universal death to his race. 

It is an unvarying rule in criminal cases that the penalty is, 
or should be, always in accordance with the crime; and apply- 
ing this rule, which is obviously in harmony with the principle 
(133) 



Biblical History. 139 

of justice, we believe this to be the true interpretation of this 
very important transaction. In order for us to have a correct 
view of the true meaning of any record, we must divest ourselves 
of every bias which our former teachings may have given us. 
This, we know by experience, is a most difficult task to perform. 
Our religious training, and consequent prejudice, is the most 
difficult to eradicate of any other. We should read the Bible 
as we would any other history, without any theories of former 
teachings. This we conceive to be the only true way to pro- 
ceed in order to arrive at the truth therein set forth'. 

Few persons, comparatively, have thus read and studied this 
wonderful production entirely free from religious prejudice. 
Having been for several years endeavoring thus to read this an- 
cient record, containing so much truth under symbolic and alle- 
goric representation, we have long since come to the conclu- 
sion that it does not teach the doctrine we were taught it did, 
and which we for more than a third of a century from the pul- 
pit proclaimed as a fundamental doctrine of revelation, and the 
basis one upon which others are necessary to complete the 
structure of popular theology. 

(Gen. iii. 19). We find the sentence pronounced on man 
at the close of the curse which God said would be the effect of 
the sin. " In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread until 
thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken ; for 
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." This sentence 
certainly means physical death, which has been literary exe- 
cuted upon Adam and his race. This interdicted fruit grew on 
" the tree of knowledge of good and evil." After they had par- 
taken of it their Creator declares (Gen. iii. 22, 23, 24): i4 And the 
Lord God said, ' Behold, the man is become as one of us to know 
good and evil ; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also 
of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever : therefore the Lord 
God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground 
from whence he was taken. So fie drove out the man, and 
He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a 



140 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

flaming sword which turned every one to keep the way of the 
tree of life." 

In these quotations we have the history of this, the most im- 
portant event that is recorded in this wonderful book. From 
our present stand-point, we find nothing to justify the opinion 
that death, and all our suffering, were introduced by this one 
act of disobedience. 

There is doubtless truth in this allegorical account of the fall, 
as it is called ; but that the popular teaching in regard to it is 
literally true, we have not for many years believed. We can 
not see how any intelligent mind which is free from religious 
teaching in regard to the introduction of evil into the world can, 
after reading the account given of this event, come to the con- 
clusion that all our moral and natural evil was brought about 
by Adam and Eve's transgression. 

The subsequent Biblical history affirms that God and Moses, 
who is claimed to be the writer of the first five books of the 
Bible, were very intimately associated for forty years. 

Is it not passing strange that this the most wonderful event 
that has ever occurred oh this or any other planet, should 
never have been referred to in the numerous interviews re- 
corded in these books between God and Moses ? 

Neither Joshua, who succeeded him, nor Samuel, or any of the 
prophets, make any reference to or indorse the popular theo- 
logical theory of the fall by our federal Head and representa- 
tive ; nor did David, " the sweet singer of Israel," though 
said to be a man after God's own heart, or Solomon, who suc- 
ceeded him, and is said to be the wisest man who ever lived or 
ever would live, make the slightest reference to this tragical 
event. 

It does seem to me that if this was the foundation-stone 
upon which theology was to be erected, that Jesus would, in 
His first sermon on the Mount, have stated the fact, so that all 
might see the basis of the Christian superstructure which He 
had come to build thereon. We look in vain for any reference 



Biblical History. J41 

to the creation or the fall of Adam and Eve, here or anywhere 
in His subsequent teaching during the three and a half years of 
His ministry. Why this % silence of all the writers of die Old 
Testament, and Jesus, the Founder of the Christian religion, in 
regard to this stupendous event, according to the popular 
teachings of the day ? Why do we hear nothing of this most 
important of all the transactions recorded in the Bible, from 
the third chapter of Genesis to Paul's Letter to the Romans? 
Geology has long since demonstrated that the theory of the 
creation, as literally understood by Moses' teaching, is with- 
out the slightest foundation, and no intelligent mind will advo- 
cate the old theory of six literal days' labor by God and a Sab- 
bath of rest on the seventh. Those days are now understood 
as indefinite periods that may embrace millions of years. 

Our opinion is, that the doctrine of the fall, as has been 
taught, is destined also to live only in the history of the past as 
one of the many things that advancing knowledge will ulti- 
mately show — a theory that will be more honoring to our Heav- 
enly Father — more conducive to man's happiness — presenting 
stronger inducements to moral rectitude, and more in harmony 
with the teachings of the Volume of Inspiration. 

I make the following extract from an article I wrote for the 
R. P. Journal, bearing upon this important subject : 

" A popular error among Spiritualists as well as Christians 
is confounding the teachings of Jesus with the creeds and 
dogmas of the churches. They are separate and distinct, as 
I shall endeavor to show from the record given by the Evan- 
gelist of what He taught as the basic principles of the religion 
He came to establish. 

" He found the Jewish Church composed mainly of two sects, 
viz : Scribes and Pharisees. In His first sermon He incul- 
cates purity of heart, and assures His hearers ' that except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes 
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
Heaven.' 



142 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" The Pharisees were the strictest sect in the performance of 
all the ceremonials of religion, but knew nothing of its spirit- 
uality. In this sermon, and throughout His ministry, He openly 
rebukefl the observance of the Mosaic law and the materialism 
of the Jewish religion. 

" Notwithstanding this, there are Spiritualists as well as Chris- 
tians who believe that He indorsed the Mosaic account of the 
creation and fall of man, with its consequences. 

"This is a very important question, upon the solution of 
which much depends. Did Jesus ever by word, or by any 
fair interpretation of what He said at any time, make the 
slightest reference to the acts of Adam and Eve ? Nor do 
we find any reference to them in the Old Testament after the 
third chapter of Genesis. Neither of the Evangelists gives us 
any account of this event upon which hangs so many dreadful 
consequences in this world, as well as untold realities of the 
eternal state. In every system of religion there is a cardinal 
truth or error which, like the first link of a chain, necessarily 
brings all the other links along with it. Here are first links of 
the chain of creedal Christianity, which I contend does not 
receive the indorsement of Jesus, nor does it form the basis of 
the Christianity He came to establish. 

" The popular teachings of Christianity are, that we fell by 
Adam's unbelief, and that we must be saved by faith in the 
atoning sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross. We find not the 
slightest allusion to faith in the Sermon on the Mount, but the 
doing of the things Jesus taught, constitutes the wise man who 
built his house upon the rock. Here is the fundamental error 
of the teachings of theology, that faith is the condition upon 
which is suspended the salvation of mankind who hear and are 
capable of accepting the Gospel. It is by doing, more than 
by believing, that we are to be saved ; as Paul says, we are to 
work out our own salvation. This question seems to be for- 
ever settled by the Author of Christianity, when He brings the 
judgment day before His hearers in the 25th chapter of Mat- 



Biblical History. 143 

thew. In this He shows as clearly as can be that it is not faith, 
.but feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick 
and prisoner, and ministering to the wants of humanity. In 
perfect harmony with this, James gives the definition of true 
religion to be the visiting the fatherless and widow in their 
affliction, and keeping himself unspotted from the world. Here 
is a religion that is reasonable — one which the Jew and Gen- 
tile, Pagan and Christian, Scientist and Spiritualist, can accept 
as rational, and which, if practiced by mankind, would make 
man's inhumanity to man cease to cause countless millions to 
mourn. This is to be the religion of the coming Church, the 
Christianity of the future. It is with this Christianity that true 
Spiritualism harmonizes in the great fundamental principle 
taught by Jesus, that whatsoever we sow, that shall we also 
reap." 

Soon after the baptism of Jesus He passed through His temp- 
tation, after which He chose His disciples, and commenced His 
ministry by preaching His Sermon on the Mount. In this He 
sets forth in clear, plain, strong language, the principles of the 
religion He came to establish. This was emphatically practica- 
ble. He taught His disciples to pray by giving a form of 
prayer. Throughout His life He was a man of prayer. We 
read of His rising before day to pray ; and of His spending 
whole nights in prayer. He assured the disciples there were 
some evil spirits who could not be cast out only by fasting and 
prayer. He closed His eventful life by praying in agony in 
Gethsemane, that the cup might pass from Him, and for His 
enemies on the cross, saying, " Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do." 

He was divinely overshadowed, grasping and appropriating 
the good and true that He found in old systems. He rejected 
the old obsolete statutes of the Jewish dispensation, saying, 
" Ye have heard it was said by them of old time," " But I say 
unto you." 

Jesus stands in relation to the past the best embodiment of 



144 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Christian Spiritualism. He was the richest Judean outgrowth 
of the spiritual philosophy the world had ever witnessed. 
By the exercise of sympathy and aspiration, by effort and con- 
secration to the truth, by daily holy living in the highest heav- 
enly relations, His "conversation was in heaven," by which He 
was quickened and intensified from the celestial heavens, His 
original pre-existent home before Abraham's day. He virtually 
lived in two worlds, the Christ of tenderness and love, ex- 
periencing the sweetest union and fellowship with His Father, 
the Infinite God. He was a practical Spiritualist, worshiping 
in spirit and truth the universal Father, establishing on earth a 
spiritual kingdom which is destined to break in pieces all the 
kingdoms of the earth, as the prophet uplifting the curtain of 
time foresaw, and that of " His kingdom there should be no 
end." 

His kingdom was to be set up within the souls of men, and 
to be as extensive as the races of mankind. His second com- 
ing was to be spiritual and with power, in the u clouds of 
heaven," with holy angels and ministering spirits, freighted 
with exalted truths, and the enunciation of eternal principles 
is in process now all around the inhabited* globe. 

" Resist not evil." " Love your enemies." " Blessed are ye 
when men shall revile and persecute you, and pray for them 
that despitefully use you." c< Be ye therefore perfect, even as 
your Father which is in heaven is perfect," 

Though walking with men, He talked with angels. His 
"kingdom of heaven was within you" in the heart. His hell 
was the " prison " out of which none were to " come out 
thence till thoU hast paid the uttermost farthing." He thus 
showed in His first sermon the great law of recompense as 
the basic principle upon which His religion was founded. He 
was the practical impersonification of the principles He taught— 

UNIVERSAL LOVE, UNIVERSAL PURITY, UNIVERSAL CHARITY. 

These were the three great pillars in the soul-temple of the ■ 
kingdom He came to establish on earth preparatory to entering 



Biblical History. 145 

upon the spiritual kingdom in heaven. The inner reign of 
truth, love, and self-denial were the cardinal features which He 
promulgated throughout His ministry. 

He established no creed, no code, no church organiza- 
tion, no clerical investments, no fossil forms ©f worship. 
Purity of heart, holiness of life, were the only guarantee of 
seeing God and enjoying the happiness of the better land. 
Multitudes of mankind now feel the divine influx of this beau- 
tiful faith, this belief in Jesus, the ascended Son of the Eternal 
Father, who brought life and immortality to light by the ever- 
lasting truths which He proclaimed, and by His demonstrated 
resurrection from the dead. To Mary He said : " Touch me 
not, for I am not ascended to my Father ; but go to rny 
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your 
Father, and to my God and to your God." 

Before departing to that many-mansioned house eternal in 
the heavens, He assured His disciples in all the ages, " These 
signs shall follow them that believe." "In my name shall they 
cast out devils." " They shall lay hands on the sick, and they 
shall recover." These signs did follow as the history given in 
the Acts of the Apostles, and were the means of spreading 
the Gospel wherever it was preached by them. These gifts 
continued in the Church until the third century, according to 
Eusebius, the " father of Church history." But under the reign 
of Constantine it became the stepping-stone to political prefer- 
ment, and consequently became corrupt when this power dis- 
appeared. Pure Spiritualism is restoring this "gift of heal- 
ing" through many who possess it now throughout the world. 

While sincerely believing in Jesus, our trust is in God, our 
heavenly Father, who is the Eternal Infinite life and light of 
universal existence. In holiest fellowship with Jesus, angels, and 
loved spirits, with whom we have been associated in our earth- 
life, we live in blissful hopes of a reunion on the other side the 
veil which separates the natural from the spiritual world. 

The disciples were directed to tarry at Jerusalem.- until they 
7 



146 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

should be endued with power from on high. The Apostles 
met in an upper room, " And when the day of Pentecost was 
fully come, they were all with one accord, in one place. And 
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, 
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sit- 
ting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like fixe, 
and it sat on each of them ;" a And began to speak with other 
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance ;" " And how hear 
we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born. ,, 
Here is the most remarkable spirit manifestation that had 
ever been witnessed in that or any preceding age. Here were 
the conditions necessary for successful control. Harmony, 
" one accord," here was prayer. " And they prayed " — Evoca- 
tion, aspiration, the earnest breathings of the heart to God, 
for His blessings to be poured out by the Baptism of the 
Spirit. The spiritual atmosphere was intensified upon these 
susceptible Apostles, thus increasing the magnetic battery, 
triey were surcharged and thrilled with the electric influx. 

One of the demonstrations of Spiritual Clairvoyance estab- 
lishes the fact that each individual is enveloped in a spiritual 
sphere. The spiritual manifestations witnessed by many have 
been similar to this from which such wonderful results were 
accomplished. 

Up to this time the success of Jesus and His disciples had 
been comparatively very limited. Three hundred is the high- 
est estimate of those who had come out for the Nazarene. 
But when the gift of tongues was bestowed on them, and the 
nations were assembled at Jerusalem, and Peter in his sermon 
showed that this was the time " which was spoken of by the 
prophet Joel," when God should pour out His Spirit on all 
flesh, and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall 
be saved." And the same day there were added unto them, 
about three thousand souls, and five thousand at another time, 
so the Gospel was spread through these mediumistic disciples. 



CHAPTER XII. 

RELIGION OF JESUS. 

Spiritualism has its Phenomena, its Philosophy, and its 
Religion. The majority of Spiritualists are content with observ- 
ing the phenomena of the different phases of manifestations. 
Like the Jews of olden time, and many of the Church at present, 
trust in, and are satisfied with the externals, without any knowl- 
edge or experience of the spirituality which they were designed 
to represent. The phenomena are important. The evidence 
that man exists after the physical organization is dissolved 
must be demonstrated. This is proven beyond the possibility 
of doubt, by unimpeachable testimony as to the identity of 
spirits who once have inhabited this planet, who jiow come and 
communicate with mortals in various ways, susceptible of 
scientific demonstration. While these facts are of scientific 
or logical demonstration, they do not touch the most im- 
portant phase of the subject — its religion. They are but the 
steps by which we may ascend the temple of truth in order to 
reach the inner sanctuary of man's nature. In this lies the 
most far-reaching and important truths connected with the 
whole subject of the intercommunion between the world of 
matter and the world of spirit. This is of infinitely more im- 
portance than the discovery of a new froce or power by which 
the laws of gravitation or cohesion are to a great extent con- 
trolled. These are often contradictory, and fo the superficial 
observer fleeting and illusory. They often puzzle those who 
are desirous of knowing the truth, who have not the key or 

(i47) 



148 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the result of patient investigation. Those who do not go on to 
the religious aspect, but simply observe certain phemonena will 
perplex themselves with endeavors to understand their ra- 
tionale. They will only be the guide-posts on the highway of 
spirituality. In a word, all who do not see in this great move- 
ment of the nineteenth century the commencement of an era 
which is to bring about the establishment of the reign of truth,- 
which will sweep many of the dogmas of the past into oblivion, 
have failed to discover the real significance of the object to be 
attained by the spirit-wrold. 

But says the reader, a You propose to unsettle the faith of 
the churches." If the search for truth from the same book, 
claimed to be the source from which all true theology is de- 
rived, unsettles any one, and puts them to reading, as the noble 
Bereans did, to " see whether these things are so," I would 
like to stir them up as the eagle does her nest when her young 
are ready to fly, in order to test their wings in the air, rising from 
their thorny abode above the clouds, to laugh at the storm rag- 
ing below. There are many represented by the story of the 
eagle, who was hatched out and brought up among the goslins. 
He knew not "the power he possessed, until one day an eagle 
discovered him among the geese, sailed down and showed him 
the power he inherited. He flew off with his new associate 
among the clouds, perfectly delighted with his newly discovered 
capacity to soar aloft. After having fully tested this glorious 
privilege, he concluded to return on a visit to his brethren, 
when he began to soliloquize thus : " I was born, and reared up 
with these, utterly ignorant of iny ancestry, but now I see I am 
an eagle, though brought up among geese." And he left them. 
One of the prophets of olden times used the eagle figure for 
a purpose. So do we. We want to stir up those who are 
still going on the tread-mill of phenomena, to soar away from 
these first principles and go on to the perfection of the re- 
ligious phase, making better men and women. If the creeds 
of the different sects of professed Christians will bear the search- 



Religion of Jesus. 149 

ing scrutiny of the teachings of the Founder of Christianity, and 
they can give a sound reason for their faiths, then their foun- 
dation is sure and steadfast. If they are built upon the dec- 
laration of some council away back in the darker ages, the 
sooner they are remodeled the better for the churches and for 
the world. If the creed on a scriptural analysis proves to be, 
as I think it will in many cases, a human invention, dishonoring 
to God and pernicious to man, then every honest person should 
substitute for it something nobler and better suited to man's 
wants, and the earnest cravings of the soul in search for truth 
in regard to his eternal welfare. In all great movements on- 
ward, they have been preceded by convulsions, by the un- 
settlement of opinions, by the tearing up of prejudices, the 
sweeping away of old errors, and thus preparing the soil for the 
reception of the good seed sown therein. The faith that suf- 
ficed at an earlier and less enlightened age is not sufficient for 
this, which must have added knowledge. The cravings for 
more light springs up in the hearts of those who are pioneers of 
the New Age, that 1 believe is now dawning upon the world. 
It comes in proportion to man's need, his fitness, and recep- 
tivity. Among the many causes of dissatisfaction with the 
present age is its crude materialism, its social sins, and its 
pervading selfishness. The minds of many must be unsettled 
as the first necessary step to advanced knowledge from which 
a truer life can be inspired. 

During our early investigations of Spiritualism we received 
communications from the spirit controlling our circle in 1855, 
that it was not their purpose to be iconoclastic. They did not 
wish to tear down, but to build up. That the churches had 
acted up to the light they had received, but took too material 
or literal view of the teachings of the Scriptures. That they had 
done much good, and that the mass of the members were aim- 
ing to do right, and many of them desirous to investigate Spirit- 
ualism. Many had been deterred from it by the fanaticism of 
some of its advocates. 



iSo The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Some have entertained the opinion that if they embrace 
spirit intercourse it would dethrone reason, break up their 
churches, and disorganize society. 

There arc fanatics among Spiritualists, as there have been 
among all religions. The intelligent Spiritualist appeals to rea- 
son as well as to the Bible to establish the philosophy of spirit 
communion. He would build up all that is noble in man, and 
useful and improving in all organizations of society, religious 
or otherwise. 

He would not destroy, but Spiritualize the churches, and 
bring them to the primitive purity whereby spirit communion 
wielded such a powerful influence for good over the masses of 
mankind. We would inspire the teachings of the pulpit with 
heavenly aspirations, enlarging the mind and spirit to elevating 
thoughts, duties, and hopes, and thus lead them upward toward 
the Great Father of all spirits. 

We believe that if the pure, simple doctrines taught by Jesus 
had been adhered to in their primitive simplicity, that the civil- 
ized world would have long since embraced them as embody- 
ing the true principles of a common brotherhood of humanity, 
and one universal religion, recognizing one divine heavenly 
Father of all the races of man. 

But, alas ! such has not been the case. Doctrines and dog- 
mas that He never taught have been engrafted on His teachings, 
and the legitimate result has been hundreds of sects claiming 
Him as their Lord and Master, while a large portion of their 
time and talent has been wasted in antagonizing each other, 
often in regard to non-essentials in religion. Practical, not 
theoretical religion, was what Jesus taught; by his works man 
was to be justified or condemned. 

Spiritualism is a solvent, containing that principle which we 
believe is destined ultimately to bind all the religions into one. 

Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, in his history of the hundreds 
of sects, says that he thinks the time will come when these di- 
verse creeds of the churches will be abolished, and none re- 



Religion of Jesus. 15 1 

quired as conditions for membership. Its harmonial philoso- 
phy will connect all past philosophies that are worthy of being 
perpetuated, with the religions that have preceded or antedated 
them, connecting them with the religions that have followed, 
and thus will form a complete chain of history, and constitute 
a spiral pathway typified by Jacob's ladder, up which the angels 
were seen going, and down which they came with loving mes- 
sages to the children of men, establishing a purer and grander 
faith, bringing " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace and good-will to man." 

The phenomena of Spiritualism will then have accomplished 
its mission. Wings of thought, inspirations of religion, forms 
of philosophy, faith and power, illumined by that Jesus who was 
represented on the earth, whose doctrines were love to God 
supremely, and universal love to man, as fulfilling the whole law 
which God had given to mankind. 

Spiritualism implies a great deal more than merely communi- 
cating with our departed friends. It embraces the infinitude of 
existence, and the sublime beatitude of the soul, measured by 
such heights and by such godliness as Jesus realized while tab- 
ernacling among men. 

His teachings have been torn and tortured, and in turn made 
the instrument of torture in the hands of kings and priests. 
Christianity, deformed and disgraced, reviled and perjured, and 
made to bear the crimes of the last 1,800 years, will, redeemed 
and purified, shine forth in its beauty " fair as the moon and 
clear as the sun" in his noontide glory under the domain of 
pure Spiritualism. 

The glorious truths taught by the Nazarene will widen and 
deepen to the comprehension of the receptive mind capable of 
appreciating and understanding them. They will grasp the 
crown, and redeem these by the measure of spiritual percep- 
tion and become enlightened, uplifted, and saved by their own 
individual growth. True spiritual knowledge tends to this end. 
Then the world will recognize the fountain of inspiration 



i^2 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

whence modern thought and the religion of the future have 
sprung. Every year brings more knowledge of the religions of 
the world, and develops the sympathy between them. There 
are hymns and prayers, in which religious souls may unite 
though variously disguised. We find the same leading features 
among the various religions of the world. 

Confucius says : " My doctrine is simple and easy to under- 
stand. It consists only in having the heart- right, and in loving 
one's neighbor as one's self." When asked, " Is there one 
word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life ?" he 
answered, " Is not reciprocity such a word ? What you wish 
done to yourself do to others." 

Whilst there may be sympathy in the great historic religions 
of the world, shown alike in their origin, their records, symbols, 
and forms, the best religion the world has ever known, though it 
may not claim the antiquity of some, yet the teachings of Jesus 
are the last and best edition of God's will to His creature man. 

When man, with broader vision and nobler capacity, will 
clasp hands across the space that divides The centuries, and 
behold them in grand, sublime uplifting of humanity to the 
standard of purity of heart, holiness of life, and the practice 
of universal brotherhood as He taught, then shall the millennial 
era, we believe now dawning upon our earth, shine forth as the 
brightness of the sunlight from pole to pole. 

All true religion tends to elevate and inspire its believers to 
good and noble deeds, to lift and perfect the human race until 
they find a near walk with God, and by their works are they 
known. The divine and perfect light of a true religious life 
can not be hid ; it shines out as a harbinger of the truth within, 
and makes perfect the faith by the work, that the deeds may 
be seen of men and felt amid ail circles, bringing into use the 
teachings of Jesus, which make each day a day of good deeds, 
and one eternal Sabbath throughout the year. Such should 
ever be the reflex of the true teachings of religion ; and any 
doctrine, or any form of laws — be they organized by creeds, or 



Religion of Jesus. 153 

controlled by spirit teachers — which does not elevate and en- 
noble the human race, bringing them into more perfect and 
consistent lives, with an earnest desire to advance each day 
upward upon the plane of harmony, can not be classed among 
the purer teachings of Jesus. 

The Spiritualism taught through the role of perfect harmony, 
and which builds the harmonial philosophy as a true religion, 
is that which bids every man work out his own salvation ; and 
that light which is to guide him into the paths of peace he bears 
within himself, and must so replenish it with the oil of good 
deeds that it may shine upon the lowly, and illume the gloom of 
sorrowing souls, lift the fallen, and bind up the bruised hearts. 

Spiritualism, in its perfect teachings, must do this, or it is 
not Spiritualism ; and to those who have received the perfect 
baptism of spirit teachings, understanding and comprehending 
it in its given light, no other religion can satisfy. 

Creeds, with set forms and written services, fall before the 
God-given truth of a never-dying principle which is constantly 
increasing through facts each day revealed by angel messengers. 
• Every heart learns the power of love, and by deeds well 
done through the pure, unselfish works of charity, Spiritualism 
makes the world grow better by harmonizing humanity, and 
giving them unlimited scope in the fields of progression. 

It lifts the soul into a plane of advanced ideas, where men 
take a sensible and reasonable view of all the works of God 
through nature's tabernacle, and by constant investigation they 
acquire knowledge which is controlled by wisdom, and they 
can no longer be chained by other men's thoughts, but unfet- 
tered, they soar beyond prescribed creeds and dogmas into the 
progressive life of never-ending truths which each day multiply 
and increase, giving, in their course, more food for hungry 
souls, and working out the God within, until the true religion 
of an Infinite Presence penetrates the mind of finite man. 

Spiritualism in its perfect advancement can alone do this. 
All other religions fail, and the nature of man struggles amid 
7* 



154 * The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the stale, improvident supplies of a dictatorial God, led by 
selfish men who claim him as their guide. Each make, as may 
please their fancy, the God they wish to serve, and none find 
that happiness which they desire, because of the pall they have 
thrown over the light. 

Spiritualism lifts the pall, and thereby establishes a religion 
which can not end, but shall go on increasing and advancing, 
bringing ever with it greater tests of the life immortal, and lift- 
ing, regardless of position, the misguided and unfortunate into 
the new life. 

Then, in the end, I would say, the effect of Spiritualism upon 
the human mind is to remove all barriers, lift the soul of doubt 
into a life of certainty, establish the life beyond, and bid every 
man lift himself into the kingdom of God by his good deeds, 
and by the love he extends to God's suffering ones, and unfold 
to him a boundless field of knowledge, wherein he may labor 
and day by day gain his reward, lifting through the light of his 
own soul the saving grace of eternal happiness, which shall, as 
a beacon, guide the wandering brother into the haven of 
safety, and so establish the coming of Christ, when the Fathert 
kingdom shall be the same upon earth as in heaven. 

Hear what Judge Edmunds says from the other side, in a lect- 
ure by Mrs. Tappan, given in London, from which we make 
the following extract, upon the same subject : 

" Is Spiritualism a religion ? says one. It is not a theology. 
If religion has to do with the human soul ; if religion has to do 
with the spiritual of man's nature; if, indeed, it lifts, elevates, 
and strengthens, then it has to do with religions, but it has no 
creed. It has no institution where theology is taught. It 
has no altars, no shrines, no priests — save the .altar of the 
fireside, the shrine of the human heart, the priest that 
prattles through the lips of the young babe on its mother's 
knee, or the gray-haired man moved to utterance, or the 
young man and maiden made to prophesy. It has not in 
stitutions, but it enters all 'institutions. It walks up to the 



Religion of Jesus. 155 

priest in his stole, and in the voice of a child makes him tell 
his astonished hearers that the lost are not dead, but living, and 
can participate in our good words and works. But, says he to 
his auditors, this is not Modern Spiritualism I am telling you. 
It goes to the laboratory of the scientist, and it makes him 
move to its wonderful voice. It says, There is another life 
and a higher ; this is but a stepping-stone to another sphere, 
but the entrance to the temple of life. He pauses, and says it 
is wondrous strange. Is it a religion ? It inspires the pure 
and holy, no matter what creed he belongs to, so that the wor- 
shiper may bow under any form of service — it matters not, so 
long as the conscience is satisfied. Seers have seen through 
its living light ; poets have seen and have described in living 
rhythm the beauties of the spirit-land. Is it a religion ? It 
makes known its voice whenever death comes; and those long 
schooled in the darkness of the past, when they thought there 
was no hope and no life, now lift up their voices and see there 
is life and there is hope. Is it a religion ? The All-Father, 
whose ways we are now somewhat finding out, bendeth in lov- 
ing care over His children, and by these various means, and 
through these various forms of inspiration, He speaks to the 
nations of the earth, and what does He say ? That no age is 
without its revelation, and no nation without its divine and dis- 
tinct inspiration ; that all ages and nations have had prophets, 
and seers, and saviours, reared by the divine mind, the instru- 
ments of His divirie messengers. Does it speak to-day in the 
churches ? Yes ; wherever its voice may be heard ; but if 
forms instead of life be there, then it does not speak ; it speaks 
to the devout in their homes, and reveals to them the wonders 
of the other life. Has it ever been heard before, and why- 
does it not come to us ? Oh, ask you why ? Sepulchres and 
tombs do not possess the living spirit; outward forms and 
ceremonies do not invite the divine ; but wheresoever the true 
spirit is found, wheresoever the honest worshiper bends the 
knee, there is the light and life of the spirit-world. Will it then 



156 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

overturn our sacred and revered institutions ? Sacred and 
revered institutions can not be overturned. God himself hath 
fashioned them ; they are His. Destructive changes may 
come by the hand of man. Truth alone is eternal. God's 
hand hath planted the true living life. The things of man may 
pass away, and be abolished ; but the truth remains the same 
in all ages, and in all climes, and the voice of its awakening is 
near. It is the fatherhood of God, over all the nations of the 
' earth ; the brotherhood of man beneath every clime and sky, 
and of every 'tongue and color ; it is the immortality of the 
soul. The religion of Spiritualism has for its assistants bards 
and seers, prophets and sages. It has for its mouthpiece those 
who are the humblest in their labors, and those who are the 
most exalted ; the king may be inspired — the cottager may 
hear voices ; the babe on its mother's knee may see the spirit 
and give utterance to its voice — the man in priestly raiment, 
if his soul be humbled, may see and behold, and question. It 
is indeed the solvent of all religions. It unites the past and 
the present. What before was in the dark is explained now. The 
long warfare between religion and science is at an end ; for 
where science leaves us and merges into this spiritual life, 
there does Spiritualism begin ! It unites as with the key-stone 
of the arch the two conditions of mankind ; on one side is 
materialism, bound and shackled to the senses, receiving only 
that which sense can give ; on the other side is religion or 
theology, receiving only that which comes from divine revela- 
tion and divine prophecy." 

We make the following extract from Dr. J. M. Peebles : 

" CHRIST THE CHIEF CORNER-STONE. 

" Spiritualism, rightly defined, is a phenomenon, a philos- 
ophy, a sublime religion ! And few Spiritualists as yet have 
reached the sublime altitudes of his universal religion whose 
co-assistant is science, whose creed is freedom, whose psalm is 
love, and whose only prayer is holy work for human good. 



Religion of Jesus. 157 

The best have not yet entered the vestibule of perfection. The 
ideal stretches far into the golden distance. 

" ' Christian Spiritualists,' says Dr. Eugene Crowell, t con- 
tend for and adhere to the religious principle or element in 
Spiritualism. The name they have chosen is another name 
for religious Spiritualism, and is more definite and truly ex- 
pressive than that. Not that Christian Spiritualists ignore or 
are indifferent to the philosophical side of Spiritualism, but that 
by the assumption of this appellation they declare that Spirit- 
ualism is a religion as well as a philosophy, and, at the same 
time, clearly indicate the relationship of that religion to the 
religion of Jesus and the early Christians. 

" ' Christian Spiritualists have not the least desire to sepa- 
rate, much less any intention of separating, from the main body 
of Spiritualists ; and doubtless all, like myself, would view with 
indignation any attempts in that direction. Their whole objec 
is to give individual and collective expression to the religious 
sentiment, to confer and commune with genial minds whenever 
the religious feelings of our nature seek expression, and, in all 
other respects, to be one in spirit and deed with our fellow- 
Spiritualists — working shoulder to shoulder with them in ad- 
vancing the interests of Spiritualism. 

"'The intention of Spiritualism is not to pull down, but to 
build up. Unfortunately some professed Spiritualists speak 
and act as if they conceived its mission to be a destructive in- 
stead of a reforming and sustaining one, to bruise instead of 
heal, to exasperate instead of conciliating, to make enemies 
instead of friends. Spiritualism is opposed to this rash and 
belligerent spirit, and it has been, perhaps, a greater foe to its 
progress than the combined attacks of its enemies/ 

" That there are extravagances, wild theories, and moral ex- 
crescences sheltering themselves under the wide-spread wing 
of Spiritualism, is freely admitted. Is not the same true of 
Christianity ? Let us be charitable, one toward the other ; for 
charity, according to the apostle, is greater than faith or hope. 



158 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

The spirit of the age is this — Intellect ; daring to think, unawed 
by public opinion. It is Conscience daring to assert a higher 
law in the face of a corrupted society and conforming creeds. 
It is Will setting at naught the world's tyrannies, and putting 
into action the private whispers of the still small voice. It is 
Heart resting in the universal and changeless law of eternal, 
transcendent love. 

" Little children symbolize the receptivities of the heavenly 
life. The humble heart, sheltered away from the storms of 
passion, and all vestured over with the fragrant blossoms of 
sweet affections, is often nearer in spirit to the angels than is 
the cold philosopher. Love inspires, wisdom guides, faith 
opens the gate, and self-sacrifice leads the way into the city 
of peace — the City of God. Oh, come ! let us worship in this 
temple of the eternal religion — a temple whose foundations are 
deep and wide as the nature of man, and whose dome, reach- 
ing into the Heaven of heavens, shall shelter and make radi- 
ant all the races of men." 

Mrs. Richmond, in one of her lectures, said: 

"Another point is that of religion — why the spirit-world 
does not, in some tangible manner, reveal the true religion of 
humanity, and thereby save all this wandering, deviating course 
which the different religions of the world lead men into. 

" From the sphere of Wisdom I then perceived that which I 
never had a doubt of while upon earth, that the Christian re- 
ligion was the highest in its form of moral and spiritual aspira- 
tion that ever was given to man ; but that, owing to the imper- 
fect perceptions of humanity, the interpretation of that religion 
must remain imperfect, and that no amount of spiritual teach- 
ing can alter, except gradually, the state of theological thought 
in the world ; that this must come as a matter of growth, which 
comes by the spontaneous inspiration from the spheres of 
spirit-life that lie the next step beyond you, whatever that 
sphere may be. 

" The Christ principle expressed in Christianity means that 



Religion of Jesus. 159 

which is capable of being understood, according to the condi- 
tion of every soul, having something for each ; and that here 
upon earth the different orders of religion are just as essential 
for the different stages of human thought as the different grada- 
tions in a school of learning, or the different steps before you 
reach the higher degrees of mathematics. Therefore that re- 
ligion itself is the pure whiteness of the sphere of Love and 
Wisdom, complete in itself and perfect, but being broken ac- 
cording to the understanding of man ; that Christ himself 
broke this bread of life through the gentle ministration of His 
spirit,- according to the understanding of those who followed 
him, and that various teachers of various religions have each 
broken the bread of life and given the different rays of spiritual 
truth, according as the earth was prepared to receive ; but that 
the light itself is one, and is pure and shining and true — the 
external form making no difference with the brightness of the 
Spirit of Truth. 

" The religion of Spiritualism includes everything that per- 
tains to the spiritual nature of man, here and hereafter ; includes 
everything that can promotethe growth of that spiritual nature, 
here and hereafter; and lays the foundation of that growth — not 
upon external belief, speculation, creed, or aught that the out- 
ward man can do, but upon the growth of the spirit itself, upon 
the claim that the spirit ■has to a place in the infinite universe. 
Small though it be, minute in comparison to the Infinite Soul, 
a place in the spiritual universe every soul must claim, and, 
having a place, has all the rights, all the privileges, all the pos- 
sibilities of any other soul whatsoever. 

"With this basis the religion of Spiritualism includes all re- 
ligions, admits all, questions all, and leaves all stripped of their 
mere externalities — laying bare the soul of human worship for 
the contemplation of the soul of man. With this interpretation, 
the religion of Spiritualism becomes the over-arching, control- 
ling, all-absorbing power of -the spiritual nature which abides in 
the soul of man." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FAITH AND WORKS. 

" For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is 
dead also." — James ii. 26. 

The teachings of theology are that faith is the condition upon 
which is suspended the salvation of mankind, who hear and are 
capable of accepting the Gospel. This we believe to be a 
fundamental error — one which is fraught with the most danger- 
ous consequences to man's present and eternal interests. 

While faith has an important part to perform in the economy 
of man's redemption, it is not, as has been expressed, " the 
only condition of salvation." This popular teaching we believe 
to be a most dangerous heresy, without authority from the 
Great Teacher upon whom the whole Christian system rests. 

Let us examine carefully what He taught as the. conditions of 
salvation. There are three points brought to view in His Ser- 
mon on the Mount. Forgiveness in tjie form of prayer and 
the comments thereon. The law of recompense, as taught by 
being " cast into prison," " Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt 
by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the utter-' 
most farthing." In the conclusion He says, not the hearer or 
the believer, but the " doer" of the things He has said, " shall 
be likened to the wise man." Throughout this whole sermon 
there is not a word about faith, but it is full of works from the 
commencement to the close. It is true that Jesus did require 
faith in order for Him to perform the works which He did, but 
they had reference to the maladies and afflictions to which hu- 
manity was subjected. 
(160) 






Faith and Works. 161 

Faith in His power was so essential to His healing that there 
were places where it is said He could not do many mighty 
works because of their unbelief. But we can not conceive that 
this faith had any reference to their moral status. 

In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew Jesus brings the 
judgment day, " when the Son of man shall come in His glory, 
and all the holy angels with Him ; then shall He sit upon the 
throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all na- 
tions, and He shall separate them one from another, as a 
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." 

Why this separation ? Want of faith ? Nay, verily, not a 
word about faith ; but works are made the cause of the separa- 
tion, and a reward passed upon each class, one for doing, and 
the other for not doing good to others. Feeding the hungry, 
clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoner, and min- 
istering to their wants, constitute the basis of their justification 
or their condemnation. Even though this may have been 
done unto the least, He will regard it as having been done to 
Himself, and reward them accordingly. This is in perfect har- 
mony with the golden rule of conduct given in the sermon, and 
the teachings to the lawyer who asked Him about the condi- 
tions of salvation. To him He said : " £ove God and man ; 
on these two hang all the law and "prophets ; against such 
there is no law " to condemn any one. In all these there is 
not the slightest reference to faith. Nor can any instance be 
found of His making faith, in His atoning sacrifice for sin, the 
condition of salvation, as is taught by the churches. The case 
of the thief on the cross is often referred to in order to estab- 
lish the instantaneous efficacy of faith to save even in the ago- 
nies of death. This teaching we believe has been productive 
of much evil in the present state, and its effects will be seen 
for ages in the spirit-world. 

The popular teaching that the whole life may be spent in the 
service of " the world, the flesh, and the Devil," and just as the 
last flickerings of the lamp of life are expiring, by the exercise 



1 62 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

of an intellectual faculty the vilest sinner may become the 
holiest saint, is a dangerous error, not recognized by the teach- 
ings of Jesus, or the soundest principles of philosophy which 
govern our mental and moral natures. The only case seeming 
to favor that — 

" While the lamp holds out to burn, 
The vilest sinner may return," — 

is this " penitent thief," as he is called. Let us look at this 
remarkable case. Luke is the only one of the evangelists who 
gives currency to this dangerous dogma. He says one of the 
thieves said, " Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy 
kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, 
To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Luke was not one 
of the disciples. He was a physician who wrote his Gospel 
and the "Acts of the Apostles" to Theophilus about the year 
6$ or 64, and was designed for his brother Gentiles. Mark 
mentions the crucifixion of the two thieves, but says nothing 
about this important event. John, the only one of the disci- 
ples who witnessed the crucifixion, omits it altogether, notwith- 
standing he gives a detailed account of the circumstances 
attending this memorable event. It is, to say the least of it, 
a singular omission by the only witness who was present to 
know the fact. Matthew says : "Then were there two thieves 
. crucified with Him, one on the right hand, and another on the 
left. And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their 
heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and build- 
est it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, 
come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests 
mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved 
others ; Himself He can not save. If He be the King of Israel, 
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe 
Him. He trusted in God ; let Him deliver Him now, if He 
will save Htm, for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves 



Faith and WokKs. 163 

also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His 
teeth." 

The weight of the testimony is decidedly against the testi- 
mony of Luke. But suppose we admit, for the sake of argu- 
ment, that he has given the facts as they transpired, what does 
h prove ? That the thief went to heaven ? Not at ail ; for 
Jesus, after His resurrection, declared to Mary that He 
had not yet ascended. Admit he went with Jesus to the 
place of departed spirits, some of whom were in prison, to 
whom Jesus preached, according to the testimony of Peter. It 
is written He descended into hell. So that it may be proved 
that He went to Hades, but not to Heaven. It is said Judas 
went to his own place ; so did this thief, and so will every one 
go to the place they are fitted for, and to no other. The uni- 
versal law by which the pure and good ascend, is the same 
which impels the vicious and vile to descend to their own place. 
This fitness is not the result of a momentary exercise of the 
intellect, but a life-long working "out of our own salvation," as 
Paul expresses it. 

Is it possible to conceive that a thief taken from prison 
to be crucified would be the first one to have any correct 
views of the spiritual nature of the -kingdom Jesus came to 
establish ? We can not think that he had any more cor- 
rect views on this subject than the disciples, who had been 
with Jesus three years and a half, and had heard His 
teachings and seen His works, attesting the sincerity of 
His mission, and yet not one of them had any correct 
idea of the true character of the mission of Christ. Hence, 
when He was arrested through the instrumentality of their 
treasurer, and denied by one of the bravest of their number, 
the history declares " then all the disciples forsook Him and 
fled." They returned to their former occupations and gave up 
all hopes of a temporal kingdom they had believed He came to 
establish. Such are the facts of history, all of which go to prove 
that the intimate associates of Jesus were ignorant of the first 



164 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

principles of the religion He had come to establish. They 
would not believe the testimony of those associates who had 
seen and recognized Him after His resurrection. Thomas 
must not only see Him, but must thrust his hands into His side, 
and put his fingers into the print of the nails in His hands be- 
fore he would believe He had arisen. 

We confess it requires greater credulity than we have to be- 
lieve there was any exercise of any faculty by this thief by 
which he was saved more than his comrade in crime. The 
teaching of death-bed conversions based upon this case, is, as 
we believe, " baseless as the fabric of a vision," and has done 
more harm than we stfall ever know until the solemn realities 
of the eternal state are revealed, and our deeds done in the 
body will be seen, and that which will fix our state in the spirit - 
world. 

Faith has an important work to perform in the economy of 
man's salvation. Without it we can do nothing. We engage 
in no enterprise even of a temporal nature without faith. We 
can prosecute no undertaking successfully without faith. The 
husbandman prepares his soil, sows his seed, and cultivates the 
ground by faith that he shall reap a harvest ; but his faith with- 
out work would never make his crop. The traveler believes if 
he perseveres he will reach the end of his journey, but that be- 
lief will not take him there without an effort on his part. Paul 
says : " Though I may have all faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not charity (or love), I am nothing." As 
Jesus opened His dispensation by enforcing the necessity of 
" doing" the things He had taught, without ever referring to 
faith, so John closes the revelation in the same manner, by say- 
ing, " Blessed are. they that do His commandments, that they 
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
gates into the city." 

John said this because he had learned the barrenness of 
faith alone. The expression that faith could remove a mount- 
ain, uttered by Jesus Christ, was not intended to convey the 



Faith and Works. 165 

idea that faith alone could do this, but that the effort must be 
made to remove difficulties before faith could be perfected. A 
dormant, inactive faith could never have proven the truth of 
Christ's teachings. Faith that does not lead to good works is 
not faith, but mere profession. Works will make faith perfect, 
because the believer will have his faith increased more by doing 
the will of God than by hearing only. 

This is a subject not understood by Christian believers. 
They suppose the "simple faith" they so often preach will 
save them ; but I tell you there is more for you to de than 
merely believing Christ to be the Son of God. He did not tell 
you to believe on Him, but to believe the works which He did ; 
for in doing this you would have faith in Him by whom He was 
sent. He claimed the power to be of God, and told His disci- 
ples that God would give them the same power by doing as He 
told them, which was to heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the 
dead, etc. 

This is what is now being done by mediums. They are con- 
scious the power does not belong to them, but that it comes 
from God through spirit influence, which Christ said should be 
the reward of faith in His word. They work, and faith follows, 
to all who will let the Master open their hearts. He is con- 
tinually knocking, but many are still in darkness, both in this 
and the spirit world. This is because their faith without works 
is dead. 

Manifest your faith by your works, and light from the spirit 
world will shine upon your pathway, and you will accept Christ 
as the world's Redeemer not by faith alone. Knowledge will 
be added to your faith, which Peter meant to teach by the ex- 
hortation, tf add to your faith," etc. Christ's messengers are 
continually telling of His mission. He that teaches any other 
doctrine than that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world, 
is not high enough in spirit life to see the light which beams 
from the realm of his Father's mansions. They can never see 
His salvation until by progressive work the darkness is dispelled 



1 66 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

by the spirit-chain of love which links them to Jesus Christ as 
the Mediator between them and their Father, God. 

Many refuse to visit mediums for want of faith in spirit com- 
munion. Thus the works of the mediums fail to convince 
thousands who would be Spiritualists if their works preceded 
their faith. Go to see these mediums, or send for them. You 
will never see or know without effort to make conditions such 
as are necessary to the acquisition of knowledge whereby your 
faith will be perfected. 

James was the embodiment of faith in good works. He knew 
the faithful Abraham was justified by works when he offered up 
Isaac. He knew Rahab was justified by works when she sent 
the men another way. Their faith would have been dead with- 
out the effort to perfect that faith. Christians, as you term 
them, preach about the exercise of saving faith. Faith comes 
from God to make us practice the teachings Christ gave when 
God sent Him into the world to make salvation perfect through 
suffering. You must suffer, or your faith will have no test. 
You must work, or your faith will be barren and unfruitful. By 
the deeds you do, you shall be judged in spirit-life. In the final 
judgment Christ will say, not, what have you believed ? but, what 
have you done ? If your faith is manifested by your works, 
men and angels will know what your spirit-judgment will be.' 
Prayer and holy living will make your works correspond, for a 
good tree will produce good fruit. This is in accordance with 
the laws which govern the nature of man, and many other 
things, in the natural world. 

When the spiritual organization is perfected, the faith of 
Spiritualists will 'be demonstrated by works from the spirit 
world. " Believe for the very works' sake," said Jesus. Your 
ministers exhort you to have faith, but the mind is bewildered 
by such instructions. There is nothing tangible in such teach- 
ings. The power to believe comes from God, and He does not 
expect you to exercise a power He has not given you. This pow- 
er will come when you obey the instructions Christ gave. Obe- 






Faith and Works. 167 

dience comes first, then faith follows, as the reward of obedience. 
The lepers would never have been cleansed if they had simply- 
listened to the command of Christ, no matter how much con- 
fidence they might have had in the virtue of the water and 
Christ's power to heal. You may say, " I have faith," but you 
have not, unless you are willing to prove that assertion. by tan- 
gible evidence. Men say many things, but their lives contra- 
dict their professions. This is not faith. It is a deception 
which they must rise above by doing the will of God. They 
have no right to assume that which God alone can and does 
give. Let your faith be seen by works meet for repentance. 
Many came to John's baptism whom he called a generation of 
vipers, because they brought not the fruits of the faith they 
manifested by going. Curiosity, and not faith, prompted the 
act ; hence he reproved them in the language above quoted. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DEATH OR TRANSITION, AND WHAT FOLLOWS. 

What is death ? There are different answers given to this 
question. The law says it is " capital punishment." The 
materialist says it is '* annihilation." Theology says it is the 
" wages of sin." The Spiritualist says it is "a birth to a higher 
life." And as it is as necessary for a natural birth in order to 
see and enjoy the natural world, so "it is as necessary for there 
to be a spiritual world. 

Another pertinent question arises in the mind of the anxious 
inquirer after truth : Is there not underneath this change which 
we call death, some divine' "purpose outworking? Is not the 
gloom and sadness that usually attend this event the result of 
our former teaching, rather than the fact itself? Why do we 
fear death, and why is he called, in poetic language, the " king 
of terrors " ? Because to the earthly mind, whose pursuits have 
been only of temporal things, an end of all sublunary pursuits, 
and the laying down and giving up all its pleasures ; the 
leaving home and friends of earth, with all the familiar asso- 
ciations of life, and the entrance upon one far removed, of 
which we know little or nothing. 

The popular form of Christianity has impressed the minds 
of the people, to a large extent, with this idea. It points to- 
ward death as an ultimate when the spirit flies away to a para- 
dise of eternal happiness, or is borne down to everlasting 
misery. But is this true ? The change in which is the de- 
struction of the physical body, with its gross elementary and 
(168) 



Death or Transition, and What Follows. 169 

ever- changing forms of matter, is part of the great plan of 
creation. The body is simply the covering of the real indi- 
vidual, which has been gathered by the laws of its being, that 
it might have a nature suited to the world in which it is to be. 
And what is called death is but the return of this matter to 
its original elements. 

Around this earth, and perhaps all worlds, there is a sphere 
of spirit-life into which all spirits must enter when they come 
out of their chrysalis covering. It is called a sphere because 
it extends around the earth. If the earth-life of the spirit 
has been evil, undeveloped, aimless, wicked, it remains there 
until a higher and truer condition is induced. 

How long it may require to bring about a change will de- 
pend upon circumstances. Some may not improve their con- 
dition for a long time, while others may be aroused to a sense 
of their true condition, and aspire to higher and nobler pur- 
suits in a comparatively short space. 

The evil spirits cast out of persons possessed by, or obsessed 
with them, by Jesus, belonged to the class that hover near 
earth for the simple reason they have no qualification or fitness 
for any other place. 

Every human being goes to their, own place as certainly as 
Judas did. We are making our own places through our nat- 
ural lives, and by the universal eternal law we go to the 
place for which we are fitted. If the spirit is pure, having 
lived in harmony with the laws of his moral and spiritual nat- 
ure, he #nly passes through the first or second of these 
spheres to the place or sphere for which he is adapted. 

These states or spheres are as philosophical as they are 
scriptural. Those whose lives were devoted to deeds of kind- 
ness and love, to doing good to their fellow-man, will be 
ready to pass into the higher life, leaving those behind who 
have failed to meet the demands made upon them during 
their earth-life by their fellow-man. 

In this sphere will be found all classes, waiting for the law 
8 



i7o The Religion of Spiritualism. 

of spiritual gravitation which will carry them to the condition 
of life for which their inner development has tfest fitted them. 
This view we conceive to be the only one that does justify 
the ways of God to man. These spheres are necessary in 
order that all may receive the reward of their doings, or to 
reap in spirit-life what they have sown in earth-life. 

From all that I can learn from those who have passed over, 
a very large portion of those who go even from the professed 
Christian country gravitate near the scenes of their former 
abode, for the obvious reason, that they have no qualification for 
any other place. The dead, then, are not far away, as we were 
taught in early life, and which we believed and taught for 
many years. 

I make the following extract from a lecture delivered through 
the mediumship of Mrs. William Fletcher, of London : 

"Around this earth on which you live there is a sphere of 
spirit-life into which all spirits must enter. We call it a sphere 
because it extends around the entire earth. If the life of the 
spirit entering this state has been evil, undeveloped, aimless, 
the spirit remains there until a higher and truer condition 
within is induced ; if pure and aspiring, the spirit enters it sim- 
ply to pass through it as a necessary pathway on its journey 
heavenward. 

"The earnest Catholic will tell you, as he stands beside the 
bedside of a friend and looks upon the eyes closed in death, 
that the spirit is on its way to a condition called * purgatorial/ 
and in this there is an element of truth. For the spirit is then 
awakening to an understanding of all the requirements of its 
life. 

"The day after death is a period neither of great happiness 
nor of great sorrow; in it you enter not upon the far-away 
heaven, but upon the spiritual counterpart of the very world in 
which you live. For in that sphere of life the soul must pos- 
sess the same conditions in order to realize its powers and its 
possibilities. It must find exactly the same surroundings it has 



Death or Transition, and What Follows. 171 

been familiar with in the world, in order to be able to develop 
from the conditions in which it is at first placed, and to under- 
stand the real effect that these have upon it. 

" You will find there, in this sphere of transition, those whose 
lives were spent in shame ; those who never knew a thought of 
good or of truth, and those whose lives were passed in careless 
pleasure, and who were so full of thoughtless ease in the world 
of earth that they had no time to think of the spirit-world. 
You will find also those whose lives were devoted to deeds of 
kindness and love, to good work for their fellows, ready to pass 
into the higher life in which lesser and lower things shall be left 
behind. In this sphere will be found all classes and conditions, 
waiting for that law of spiritual gravitation to act which shall 
carry them to the condition of life for which their inner de- 
velopment has best fitted them. 

" Where are the spirits of the dead ? Are they far away ? 
We answer, No — they are very near to you ; certainly so, when 
they have only just passed through the crisis of change, and 
are probably still held to the old scenes and attractions of their 
earth-life. 

"What are they in that other life? How do they pass 
away ? Long before the spirit has absolutely left the body the 
change called death has begun. Over a dying person a little 
light is formed which gradually grows larger, and assumes at 
rast the form* of the spiritual body in which the soul is to live. 
St. Paul has said : ( There is a natural body, and there is a 
spiritual body/ There are many who think they have died, 
and who, on awakening to consciousness in the physical life, 
say they have been far away, have seen brighter scenes and un- 
known realms, and talked with old friends. You fancy they 
have been dreaming, but it is not so. The spiritual body had 
so far formed that for the time it had left the natural body, and 
had been in connection with the spirit-world. But the attrac- 
tion of earth-life being stronger, ana the magnetic link being 
unbroken, the spirit returned. It is when the attraction is 



172 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

strongest in the spiritual body that the spirit gradually changes 
place, and death implies simply the separation of the spirit 
from its mortal case. After death the spirit is not far away ; 
for a long while it is closely connected with the physical body. 
Many times, when you are sorrowing over the dead body of 
a friend, the spirit is bending over you, trying to whisper 
words of comfort, and to throw its influence upon your heart. 
The more natural the earth-life has been, the more perfect 
and peaceful is the transition from this life to the other ; the 
change called death is, then, the change of birth into the 
higher and better life. For the natural life is the only life 
pleasing in the sight of God. In the world to-day it is almost 
impossible to live naturally, because on the one side are ranged 
the laws of society, and on the other stands poor weak human 
nature. It is not that you do not know what it is right to 
do, but that society steps in with its influences, its tempta- 
tions, and you sacrifice what you think and know to be right 
in deference to the opinions of those who surround you." 

HELL. 

Where are the so-called dead ? This is a very grave ques- 
tion, one that should interest every thinking human being. The 
commonly received opinion that all are destined to go .directly 
to heaven or hell, is one of the dogmas that is fast passing 
away. The founder of the largest Protestant Church says, 
" There is not the slightest foundation for such a belief in the 
oracles of God." They go to their own place, for which their 
earth-life has fitted them. From all the information I have 
been able to gather from spirits themselves, I have long since 
come to the conclusion that the larger portion of those who 
pass away from mortal sight, remain on or near the earth for a 
long time. They have no qualification for any other place. 
They have consecrated their mind, heart, time, and talent to 
earthly things, hence they have no affinity for anything above 
that which is of earth. This was one of the first lessons that 



Death or Transition, and What Follows. 173 

we were taught in our investigations here in 1855. All our 
subsequent teachings have but confirmed the same information. 
I never could understand the term " outer darkness" so 
fully until I had heard those describe it who were groping their 
way amid its surroundings. 

We have had communications from a number of persons, 
some of whom we have known intimately, who were in the 
Church, and some who were as far from it as any we have ever 
known. All concur that there is a fearful hell in the other 
life, but it is possible to be released therefrom. 

At one of our family seances, a man clad in tattered garments 
was seen and recognized by the medium. He had called at 
our house and received kindness, and had his wants supplied.' 
He came back some time afterward drunk, and behaved very 
badly, and was repulsed. He controlled the medium's hand 
and wrote some months after this. I copy the communication, 
illustrative of the principle of reaping as we sow : 

" A stranger comes in your midst, only to ask forgiveness 
for one act and one expression from my lips. I was turned 
away, but you were not to be blamed, for my conduct deserved 
no better treatment. I was a beggar, but did not come with 
that humility and gratefulness of heart which became me. I 
was brought to want by the taking of the wine too freely. I 
spent my life in youth's wildest revelry and mirth. I shunned 
all from my presence who were members of temperance organi- 
zations, and was dissipated in the extreme. I was reduced to 
the last resort for my sustenance, and that was to beg ; but, 
oh, my kind lady, I acted amiss. Will you forgive me ? Say, 
oh, will you ? And when a stranger knocks at your door and 
asks for bread, turn him not away. I come to tell you only of 
one instance — there are too many to mention. There is a mis- 
erable life for me. Still I beg you to forgive me and pray for 
me. Will you, kind lady ? A Beggar." 

I asked him his name, and some remarks were made as to 
his antecedents, when he wrote again : 



174 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" I am ashamed to acknowledge you are correct. My name 
you shall never know ; but will you do all you can to relieve 
poor, erring, sinful man ? I have a sympathy for the thousands 
you have in your midst, and you can be very useful in this 
great work. I must acknowledge, my lady, there are many of 
this class undeserving, but you can not always know ; but if 
you can prevent it, never turn a beggar away empty. I must 
go, though I love this atmosphere I am in. It is a great change 
for me. I shall come again, though only as a looker-on. I 
must do it, for I feel as though I can not go away to my abode of 
darkness. I must go. Pray for me ; will you, happy mortals ? " 

I will mention one other case through another medium, in 
my library. 

The following is from one whom we knew intimately, who 
passed away by a shot in a saloon : 

61 1 must write a few wol'ds if you are tired. I so much enjoy 
the help I can receive by coming here where kind and loving 
hearts dwell. Oh ! the wretched state of a soul shut out from 
God, and away from every heart that beats in feelings of sym- 
pathy for me. Oh ! the horrors of the damned, where every 
wicked deed, and sin of thought, word, and motive comes in 
dark array before the mind, and memory records these things 
in mortal life in letters that seem to burn with fire. These 
come back in spirit-life to torture a conscience already burn- 
ing with remorse. 

" Please excuse the horrible manner of my coming, but I 
can not come from the abode of darkness without bringing it 
with me. Good-night." .... 

A number of tests were given of the identity of this spirit, 
of personal relations between us, of which the medium knew 
nothing. He ventured to our home circle first because of the 
sympathy he heard us express for him near his former residence. 
On one occasion he said, "I call you friend, though in our 
earth-life there was a gulf between us like that between the 
rich man and Lazarus." 



Death or Transition, and What Follows. t75 

He said, " I wronged you, but you forgave me," and much 
that would not be best to publish. We merely give the above 
to illustrate an important truth relative to the other life as stated 
by spirits. 

One of the first who communicated through our " new 
medium " at our first developing circle, was of this class. We 
give his communication. At our next meeting he wrote a long 
article and controlled the medium to speak, giving an account 
of meeting his mother and of progressing onward with increas- 
ing light : 

" Kind Stranger : — Pardon this intrusion. I have heard so 
much of you from others that I could not resist the desire of 
coming here, believing that you would pity and befriend me. I 
have sinned, and am now suffering ; having hurled my own 
soul into eternity, believing that life ceased with death, and 
that I would thereby escape my earthly troubles, but on awak- 
ening to a realizing sense of my position, I found that I had 
been deceived — I still had an existence. My sufferings are 
terrible ; imagination can not conceive the agony I am forced 
to endure — agony which is denied even the consolation of 
human sympathy. 

" I know that my earthly record is closed, and that I can 
not now return to alter a single line ; but, is there no hope 
— must I endure this pain forever ? I feel an inward burn- 
ing heat, as if a red-hot iron was plunged into my soul. I 
can even now, faint and far away, hear the voices of angels 
singing praises to God, and joyous birds warbling pseans of 
gladness, while I, deserted, friendless, and alone, am compelled 
by some unknown power to dwell in utter darkness. Tell me, 
kind sir, can not you aid me ? These bright spirits present 
say you can and will. 

" Oh ! if I could only speak as I once spoke, I would repair 
the wrongs I have inflicted upon others, and wipe the tears I 
have caused to flow ; but that is impossible. I must suffer the 
consequences of my own hellish acts forever and ever. Pity 



1 76 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

me — pray for me, and you will place an unfortunate one under 
obligations, not to be forgotten until I forget what gratitude is. 
"I drowned myself in a cistern at Calais, Vermont, on 
Wednesday, October 27th, 1875. 

"William C. Robinson." 

" You will find the information desired herein. I was a promi- 
nent citizen of the place named." 

[In reply to doubts as to the correctness of statement]. 

" Kind Sir : — I wish you to write, by all means, and satisfy 
yourself that, although I have been unfortunate, and am classed 
here as one of the lowest of the low, I am, nevertheless, true 
and sincere in the sentiments expressed." 

Indorsed by medium's spirit brother. 

" Dr. : — The representations of Mr. Robinson are correct. 
I satisfied myself of that fact before permitting him to communi- 
cate. He was very miserable, but now feels better. He says 
that the privilege of communicating has stimulated him with 
renewed energy, and that he is determined to press onward, 
onward. We could do nothing with him. If you could have 
only beheld him at the conclusion of the recital of his woes 
you would feel that you were fully repaid for the kindness 
accorded him. William." 

We wrote to the postmaster at Calais, making inquiries if 
such a man ever lived there and drowned himself in a cistern. 
The following is the answer : 

" MONTPELIER, VT., Aug. 29, 1877. 

" Samuel Watson, Memphis, Tenn. : 

c * Dear Sir :- -In reply to your letter of inquiry, I would say 
there was a man named William C. Robinson, who lived in the 
town of Calais, Vt., and committed suicide by drowning in a 
cistern in October, 1875. . These are the facts of the case. 
Shall I ask your reason for making inquiry ? 
" Respectfully, 

" L. A. Kent, P. M., Calais, Vt." 



Death or Transition, and What Follows. 177 

Another case of a similar character of one whom I had 
known for many years. He occupied a prominent position in 
the country and was honored as a Senator in a State Legisla- 
ture. I withhold his name, but will make a short extract from 
what he wrote in regard to his condition : 

" I come to you to-night humble, oh, so humble. None of 
you here ever thought that (name given) could ever come craving 
your help. Oh, I am suffering, oh, so terribly, for some awful 
acts 0/ my life. I have defrauded, cheated, and acted dishon- 
estly more than any one knows ; and while regarded as being a 
gentleman, my heart was as black as hell. 

" I made a slave of my wife — treated my children like dogs, 
and now I am in utter darkness. 

" I have no words to express my terrible condition — none to 
thank for your kindness, and if you will permit me I shall come 
often, that by so doing I may lessen the gloom of my present 
condition. Because I failed to do the good I might have done 
I am suffering horrible tortures." 

The question as to the duration of the sufferings of the finally 
wicked is attracting much attention. Some of the first preach- 
ers in the pulpit have openly declared that they do not be- 
lieve in the everlasting misery of those who die in their sins. 
The secular papers have taken up the subject, giving their own 
opinions, as well as extracts from the utterances of learned di- 
vines. 

It is a matter of astonishment that the words which our 
translators render Hell, should ever have been understood to 
mean a place of everlasting misery. The Bishop of the M. E. 
Church, South, says in his sermon in the Methodist Pulpit 
South : 

" For the present hear Mr. Wesley. It is indeed very gener- 
ally supposed that the souls of good men, as soon as they are 
discharged from the body, go directly to heaven or hell, but 
this opinion has not the least foundation in the oracles of God. 

" The spirit-world receives all who depart — good, bad, small 
8* 



178 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

and great, old and young. The Hebrew original of the Old 
Testament calls it Sheol, which the Greek translation of the 
Septuagint renders Hades. The Greek original of the New 
Testament calls it Hades, which the Latin Vulgate renders 
Infernus. The English translation of the Old Testament, and 
of the New, sometimes renders it Hell, sometimes the grave. 
Here in Sheol- Hades the souls of all who die are received 
without respect to their goodness or badness, their happiness or 
misery 

" Hades is not unfrequently used by the seventy, but it is 
common among classical authors ; and in the judgment of the 
critic quoted, and others, it ought never in Scripture to be ren- 
dered Hell, at least in the sense wherein this word is now univer- 
sally understood among Christians. In translating the Hebrew 
word Sheol the seventy almost invariably used Hades ; both 
meaning the state of the dead in general, the invisible, the hid- 
den, the veiled land." 

In perfect harmony with this is the teaching of Spiritualism. 
The great gulf about which we have heard so much is that of 
condition. This exists in this, as well as in the spirit-world. 
The same law that exalts the pure and good will debase the 
vicious and the vile. Every one will gravitate to their " own 
place." That place will be the one they have made for them- 
selves during their earth-life. 

We once heard a preacher in the pulpit, within a short dis- 
tance from where we write, say that if a sinner were in heaven 
he would get away as soon as possible, and go to hell, because 
he would be happier there. The great law of affinity or same- 
ness will fix the abode of those in the spirit-world. Those who 
have lived here only on the animal plane, could not be happy 
with those whose intellectual and moral powers have been de- 
veloped. The great truth uttered by Jesus, that " whatsoever 
we sow that shall we also reap," will be realized by all when 
they pass over to the real life beyond. There is no lake of fire 
anywhere in the universe in which sinners are to suffer endless 



Death or Transition, and What Follows. 179 

punishment, but there is a fearful hell to those whose lives have 
been spent in wickedness and crime. They have no moral 
fitness for any other place, and must go with those of a similar 
character, where there will be weeping and wailing over mis- 
spent lives. 

We have never felt the import of those words until we have 
heard it from those whose abode was in " outer darkness." It 
may not last forever, but in that condition they will continue 
until, as Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, they have 
paid " the uttermost farthing." The great law of recompense 
must be satisfied. Its demands are imperative, and must be 
rigidly enforced in this world, as well as in that which is to 
come. 

In disobeying the law we sin against ourselves — not against 
God. Nor rjpes He inflict punishment for sin arbitrarily, but sin 
is its own punisher; and the violated law is inexorable in its 
demands, which must be met by all accountable creatures, 
either in this or the eternal state. 



CHAPTER XV. 

DOES PROBATION TERMINATE WITH EARTH-LIFE? 

This is a question of vast importance. It is one about 
which Spiritualists do not differ, so far as we have been able to 
learn. Whilst they believe that wrong-doing must meet its just 
punishment in this or the other life, they also believe that ref- 
ormation and consequent elevation is the birth-right of all who 
pass to the spirit-world. We know this is heresy so far as the 
Protestant doctrine is concerned, but we say as another did, 
" If this be treason, I make the most of it." It is truth which is 
eternal and must ultimately prevail. This is, as we think, clearly 
set forth by the teachings of Jesus as well as the nature of man 
and his relations. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, where the fundamental princi- 
ples upon which Christianity is based, are set forth by its Found- 
er, this doctrine is, we think, clearly taught where He speaks of 
paying "the uttermost farthing" before the guilty shall come 
out of prison. After His crucifixion He went and preached to 
those spirits in prison, as a celebrated Divine, preaching from 
that text in this city some years since, said He went to 
preach to them, for the same purpose 'that He had preached to 
sinners here. We do not propose to enter into this subject 
from a Biblical stand-point now, nor from a philosophical one, 
but to give some facts which have come under our observation 
for more than a score of years illustrative of this truth. 

I have given my views of this deeply interesting subject 
through the Religio- Philosophical Journal, I shall copy a part 
(180) 



Does Probation Terminate with Earth-Life ? 18 1 

of them, though there is some repetition. I will give them as 
originally written, believing them to be true, and to be in har- 
mony with the character of the Author of our being. 

1 shall give a number of communications from persons who 
have passed over the river of life. Some are terribly significant 
of the sufferings they are enduring as the result of their earth- 
life records. Others are sadly disappointed in regard to the* 
spirit-world, in not meeting with what they have been taught to 
expect. Those who have lived «in harmony with the laws of 
their being, realize more than they had ever conceived to be 
possible for them to enjoy in their bright abode in that beauti- 
ful world where no sickness, sorrow, or death, can ever come. 

I have decided to give your readers my views of the "future 
state." I am led to this decision by the fact that so many of 
my friends have, during the past few months, passed over, and 
have communicated with me freely in regard to their condition. 
Several preachers and prominent members of the Church are 
among the number. They find the spirit-world very different 
from what they taught, and believed it would be. They have 
found their position lower than they expected, because they 
made their calculations from their ignorance of God's own re- 
quirements. They placed their hopes of being carried to heaven 
on "flowery beds of ease," according to the popular teachings 
of the day, while God made them to " work out their own sal- 
vation," by doing His will in their earth-life. Heaven is a moral 
condition, and not a material plane of worship around a throne, 
as we have often heard from the pulpit. God is spirit, and His 
creatures must be spiritual in their conceptions of Him. 

The Founder of Christianity in its purity taught that "the 
Kingdom of Heaven is within," and does not consist in divers 
ordinances or ceremonial worship. The fountain must be pure 
in order for the stream to be pure. The tree must be good, 
to yield good fruit. The life must be in harmony with the laws 
of our being, in order to produce happiness in this or the fu- 



1 82 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ture state. The entrance into the spheres must be according 
to the laws of God, which are immutable and fixed. No spirits 
can change those laws, but by obedience to them, take high or 
low position, just as their obedience in a greater or less degree 
determines their " place" by their intellectual and moral de- 
velopment. 

• When death comes in the order of law pertaining to matter, 
the spirit seeks its affinities — let them be in the dark abode of 
" outer darkness," as the Scriptures term it, or in the spheres 
of light and love. Every spirit gravitates to the place for 
which he is fitted, in obedience to the universal law of his be- 
ing. Nothing prevents this association; nothing can change 
the nature of the spirit affinities but a progressive desire to go 
upward and onward. 

There are spiritual laws as well as material laws. The spirit- 
man is to spirit-laws, what the material man is to material 
laws. Eternal laws prevail throughout the universe of matter 
and spirit. They never have been, and never will be changed, 
because their Author is the same eternal and invariable source 
of essential law. There are but two departments of this law, 
spirit and matter. These embrace all that we can conceive of 
existence. We see the result of material law in our present 
state of existence. We shall see the effects of spiritual law 
when we enter our future state of being, as by it the state or con- 
dition of every human being will be determined on entering 
the spirit-world, by crossing the river of life. In this the em- 
bryonic state of our existence, we are forming our character, 
intellectually and morally, which fix our condition and sur- 
roundings in the other life. This is not by an arbitrary act of 
God, but is the inevitable result of the universal law of our 
being, and of all created intelligences. 

What is to be our employment in the spirit-world ? is an im- 
portant inquiry. The teachings we have had, that heaven is a 
walled city, with three gates on the four cardinal points for ad- 
mittance ; that God is seated on " a great white throne," and 



Does Probation Terminate with Earth-Life ? 183 

the saved spend their time in bowing in worship, adoration, and 
praise to Him who sits thereon, is too childish and absurd to 
deserve refutation in this connection. That there is worship 
a over there," and that those who desire it will have meetings 
for spiritual development, we do not question ; but there will 
be also a great diversity of employments and enjoyments in 
the other life. All will be just as their capabilities deter- 
mine. It may be that there will be countless millions of sub- 
jective heavens and hells, each being in the very place and 
state for which best fitted by the earth-life. Eternal progres- 
sion is the law that governs in spirit-life. Effort, aspiration, and 
desire put in practice, must be brought to bear upon all before 
this work can be accomplished. Instruction, sympathy, and 
prayer, for those who are in outer darkness, will be the em- 
ployment of the pure and good, and this Christ-like work will 
be the most effectual way to develop themselves to a higher 
plane, demonstrating the truth taught by Jesus, that it is more 
blessed to give than to receive. 

We have in His history given us by the Evangelists, in the 
New Testament, the works He performed in His earth-life, go- 
ing about doing good to the souls and bodies of mankind, thus 
setting an exemplary example for us to follow. After His cru- 
cifixion, He " went and preached to the spirits in prison," thus 
showing that probation did not terminate with our moral state 
of existence. We have here clearly established a fact which is 
ignored by the Protestant Churches, but recognized to some 
extent by the Roman Catholic Church, that reformation and 
consequent elevation was taught by the Founder of Chris- 
tianity. 

" Spirits in prison ! " who are they, and what are their sur- 
roundings ? These are questions of paramount importance to 
every one who desires to be informed in regard to the spirit- 
world. Our teachings for a quarter of a century have been, as 
we think, in harmony with His, whose birth the Christian world 
has fixed on the 25th of December. They are those who have 



184 The Religion of Spiritualism 

failed to live in harmony with the laws of their being. They 
have lived on the material plane, indulging their wicked pas- 
sions, controlled by selfishness, and have thus disqualified them- 
selves for association with any but those of a like disposition. 
These spirits are " driven away in their wickedness," by the 
universal law, fixing the place according to the condition of 
every spirit. Their "prison" walls is the "outer darkness" 
that surrounds them wherever they roam. I have had a number 
of these who described their state as the most horrible, and their 
entreaties for us to pray for them have moved my sympathies 
as they have never been by the deepest distress I have ever 
witnessed on earth. Some who have been prominent mem- 
bers of the Church have besought us to pray for them. This 
we have done, and they profess to have been benefited by our 
intercessions for them. 

As Jesus not only went among publicans and sinners during 
His ministry here, but "descended into hell" to help these un- 
fortunate beings, so the good and pure will find that the most 
important duty and privilege that can be enjoyed in the spirit- 
world, will be to descend to the lower spheres, and aid in bring- 
ing up those who' are in the depths of darkness. This Christ- 
like work will elevate themselves more rapidly than any em- 
ployment to be found in the spirit-world. God blesses those 
here who help others. The same law prevails over there. 
God carries on His work through agencies in the mortal and im- 
mortal, recognizing the common brotherhood of the whole hu- 
man family. 

We pass out of our present, and enter upon our future state, 
the same identical beings. Those who have labored for the 
good of their fellow-man here, will find it a congenial em- 
ployment to continue that work in the spheres. This I have 
had demonstrated for many years from those who have gone 
over, by communications I have received through mediums 
from them. They feel there, as here, a sympathy for their un- 
fortunate kindred, and visit their dark -abodes to encourage 



Does Probation Terminate with Earth-Life ? 185 

and stimulate them to aspirations upward, and when success at- 
tends their efforts, they rejoice that another soul has been re- 
deemed from the dark regions of despair, and made capable of 
appreciating that purity which constitutes the requisite qualifi- 
cation for the enjoyment of the upper spheres. 

I am fully aware that the thoughts I have hastily penned 
will be branded as heresy by my old associates in the ministry. 
My reply to all such is what Paul said on a certain occasion : 
" After the manner which ye call heresy, so worship I the 
God of my fathers." I can not worship any other being than 
one of whom it is said in the Bible : " His tender mercies are 
over all His works " and " is not willing that any should perish." 
These are the teachings of Spiritual-ism, so far as I have been 
able to learn them in all my investigations. They are the 
teachings of the Founder of Christianity, as I understand them. 
They were the teachings of the Church in its primitive purity, 
and I believe will be found, in the. near 'future, to be the only 
teachings upon which there can be built a Church with a sure 
foundation ; in a word, it is the only system that does fully 
justify the ways of God to man. He makes no man happy or 
miserable in this world or the next, but in obedience to His uni- 
versal law, which governs all created intelligences. In this and 
all other worlds He makes every one as happy as his nature will 
permit, and punishes only to reclaim the disobedient, as loving 
parents do their affectionate children. 

I recognize no human authority upon this and kindred sub- 
jects. 'The highest human authority which I do recognize, is 
enlightened reason and common-sense. Authority has been 
combating these, and in the past has, to some extent, been vic- 
torious ; but these God-given faculties are now triumphing over 
the mandates of " our standards " in religion. The great fun- 
damental principle taught in the Scriptures, is that each one 
will receive according to the deeds done in the body, the re- 
ward of his doings. I ask in all candor, can any rational, un- 
prejudiced mind believe that a being " whose tender mercies 



1,86 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

are over all his works," can punish forever an erring mortal for 
the sins of a few years, living in accordance with the depravity 
inherited from his federal head and representative ? I envy 
neither the head nor the heart of such. The sins of a brief life 
here can not, upon any principle of justice with which we are 
acquainted, receive an eternity of punishment. It is unreason- 
able as well as unscriptural, and I hesitate not to say that I 
could not worship such a being, nor would such a being be 
worthy of the homage of his creatures. God does not punish 
any one. He has established immutable, eternal laws, which 
exist, like Himself, everywhere. Obedience to those laws will 
insure happiness in this life, and in the future state. Violating 
these laws will, of necessity, bring suffering here and in the 
hereafter. The object of punishment is not vindictive or arbi- 
trary, but reformatory. Those who have lived only upon the 
animal plane, and have been governed by their evil natures, 
have no moral qualification for pure spiritual associations — 
hence they are '' driven away in their wickedness," with those 
of like natures. There are immutable and eternal principles 
of right and wrong. The laws of God are unchangeable, and 
are the same in this and in all worlds. Virtue and happiness 
are inseparably united ; vice and misery can never be separated. 
There is what is called in moral philosophy, the laws of 
sequence, that certain results must necessarily follow certain 
courses of conduct. These laws of sequence are as immutable 
as any natural law. Heaven and hell begin in this world, and 
are made by the formation of the character in this life— hence 
the truth expressed by inspiration, that " he that doeth wrong, 
shall receive for the wrong he hath done." Every wrong 
act unatoned for in this life is engraven upon the aura which 
surrounds the wrong-doer and forms the walls of the prison of 
" outer darkness," in the spirit-world in which he is encased. 
It is thus each one makes- his own record, keeps his own book 
of life. Though no human eye may see the evil deeds, yet 
when the time comes of which Jesus speaks, where He says 



Does Probation Terminate with Earth-Life? 187 

there is nothing hid that shall not be revealed, there is nothing 
concealed that shall not be made manifest, then all will appear 
in their true character. 

The great question is, Will this punishment be eternal ? I 
can not believe it, for many reasons. The great principle rec- 
ognized as part of our nature, is the freedom of the will, 
which can not be affected by the change we call death. It is 
not the material part of our nature that possesses this power, 
which makes man a moral agent, but the real being who passes 
out of the natural into the spiritual world, possessing all the 
faculties unimpaired. Man is a probationer here, and I see 
nothing in his intellectual, moral, or spiritual nature, in the 
change of worlds, to destroy that important feature of his 
character. As to a literal lake of fire as a place of punish- 
ment into which human souls are plunged to burn forever, I 
can not nor would I believe. The very thought is abhorrent 
in connection with future punishment. These terrible ideas of 
hell that have* come down to us from the centuries past through 
such writers as Dante, Milton, and Pollok, have made more 
infidels than the Humes, Voltaires, and Volneys. Such awful 
pictures of hell as have been heard from Christian pulpits, are 
enough to negate the ideas of God from the minds of reflective 
men. 

That a God of love could so torment His creatures, will not 
be entertained by any one who has a correct idea of the char- 
acter of our heavenly Father, "who is not willing that 
any should perish ; " such preaching has had its day and will 
live, I think, only in the history of the past ages. There is no 
punishment inflicted by God's law that is wrathful or vindic- 
tive, but reformatory in its design and tendency. Such teach- 
ings will either disgust sensible men with the idea of religion, or 
drive them into infidelity. There must be some respect paid 
to what is reasonable and right, even in regard to the future 
punishment of the u incorrigible sinner." He is human still and 
claims a common brotherhood of humanity. He will, as we be- 



188 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

lieve, ultimately pay the debt he has incurred in this, his infant 
state of being, he having received " the measure he has meted 
to others" by its " being measured to him again," and "paid 
the very last mite," as Jesus expresses it. His prison walls of 
darkness will be broken through the agency of good spirits, 
who, like Jesus, go and minister to those thus confined in 
prison, and accompany them to the realms of light, where loved 
ones will meet and rejoice over their deliverance from spiritual 
bondage. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE RESURRECTION. 

The teaching of the resurrection of the body from the grave 
has been one of the greatest obstructions to Christianity among 
thinkers. Its belief we think is rapidly disappearing among 
our preachers of advanced views. We propose to devote one 
chapter to this important subject, and shall use some of the 
matter I wrote for the R. P. Journal and other periodicals on 
the subject. We shall give an extract from the founder of 
Methodism and some of his followers. 

It is now almost universally conceded, in the Church as well 
as out of it, by thinkers, that Progression is a universal 
law. This tends to higher life and involves the death of the 
natural body. It having accomplished its mission, ceases to 
exist in an organized form ; and Paul, speaking of its dis- 
solution, says, "The time of my departure is at hand." This 
earthly life is but the nursery in which God prepares His plants 
for the higher state of spiritual existence. 

It is the Divine ordination. There is not a seed but what 
hath its covering — it goes on ripening, after which it throws 
off that covering. Nature teaches us some important lessons, 
for nature is God's handiwork, and must be in harmony with 
universal law, by which He governs all things. Our natural 
body is our covering in this our infantile state of being. We 
see only his dwelling-place, which is of the earth. When he 
is matured or ripened to carry out the figure, he leaves the 
body, by bin sting like the shell or sheath the ripe seed, and 
the real man finds a world and home congenial to his nature. 

(189) 



190 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

If he has lived according to God's laws, he will then enter 
into the fullness of God's blessings. The resurrection is not a 
change that has to be waited for during thousands of years. 
Sleep in the grave but immediately follows what is called death. 
He rises to his place, for which he has been fitted by his intel- 
lectual and moral development while in his natural body. Each 
one gravitates, by the immutable law of God, to his own place 
in a spiritual body adapted to the world of spirit, into 
which he enters with the same faculties he possessed in his 
natural body, refined and intensified. He no longer sees 
" through a glass darkly," as Paul says of the present state, 
but face to face he beholds the inhabitants of this real world, 
each showing by the aura that surrounds them, their own true 
character. 

Inasmuch as the earthly body is fitted for this world, and 
not adapted to the spirit-world, it is left behind, or, as Mr. 
Wesley says, " which it wholly puts off at the grave." This is 
the invariable testimony we have received from those who 
have passed over — some of which I expect to give in another 
place. 

This theory of the resurrection of the natural body, like 
some other dogmas, has crept into and been assumed as part 
of the Christian doctrine for a while, but afterward the advance 
of intelligence and science has shown them to be errors, and 
consequently have been rejected. The advance of science 
has shown that this is a doctrine that involves the most serious 
and perplexing difficulties, which we have neither time nor space 
to notice. Suffice it to say, that there is not a single text, from 
the first of Genesis to the last of Revelation, which says that 
either the earthly body shall rise again, the material body 
or the natural body shall rise, or any words from which such 
inference can be legitimately drawn. The Scriptures teach 
that the man will rise, the dead will rise, but never the dead 
body will rise — but, on the contrary, they teach the reverse. 
Take the ninth verse of the seventh chapter of Job : " As the 



The Resurrection. 191 

cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down 
to the grave shall come up no more." 

Paul speaking on this subject, says, 1 Cor. xv. 40, "There 
are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial. ... So also is the 
resurrection of the dead." " There is a natural body, and there 
is a spiritual body." It is thus this eminent apostle treats the 
resurrection. He seems to think it is a very foolish thing to 
ask a question that nature answers in the germination or re- 
creation of itself. He says the body sown is not the body 
raised, but a celestial body. 

The earthly body is the one given in our first stage of life. 
When it has done its work and accomplished its purpose, it 
decays, putrifies, and mingles with the elements around ; but, 
fiom within the real man, a spiritual body ascends. 

This spiritual body is being formed with the natural body 
during the earth-life. It is " the inner man," of which Paul 
speaks in another place, when he says, " The outward man per- 
ished — the inner man is renewed." A pure, good man has a 
beautiful, white, spiritual body, of which it is said they shall 
shine as the sun. A bad man is gradually forming within him- 
self an ugly spirit — black and malignant. 

We can not see it as it is now, covered with the earthly 
clothing ; but when it throws this off at what is called death, 
the mask is thrown off; then what was said by Moses, " Be 
sure your sins will find you out," will be realized by all who 
enter the spirit-world with selfish, wicked, devilish natures that 
they have manifested in their earth-life. 

We are all writing our own history — forming our own charac- 
ters, which will constitute our personal identity. We are our 
own "bookkeepers" — making our own records, which we shall 
meet on the other side. Every bad principle inculcated deep- 
ens and strengthens, producing its impressions upon the spirit. 
Every cunning malignity that a man cherishes and acts upon 
gives its expressions upon his soul, and injures him before it 
does anybody any harm. This is " the book of life " we are 



T92 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

writing every day, either making it of the holy pages of life, 
and love, or defiling its pages with falsehood, malignity, and 
wickedness. Then shall be realized the awful import of the 
declaration of Jesus, that there is nothing hid or concealed 
that shall not be revealed. 

It is a most solemn truth, that should be engraven upon 
the tablet of our minds, never to be forgotten or disregarded, 
that no viciousness can we cherish, no wickedness can we love, 
without its doing its mischief within our souls. 

We can not afford to do wrong, for Jesus says, " He that 
doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong he hath done." The 
formation of the spiritual character is no transitory matter. 
It is the proper business of our lives. It is with reference to this 
that the book says some shall come forth to the resurrection of 
life, and others to the resurrection of damnation (condemnation). 

The spiritual world is only discernible- and tangible to a 
spiritual body, where its true status is seen and known by the 
inhabitants of that world. These worlds are very close to- 
gether — only a veil separates them. 

Mr. Wesley, who in his comment upon the declaration of 
Paul, where he s'peaks of "soul, body, and spirit'** as a trinity, 
says : 

" Is not the body that portion of organized matter which 
every man receives in the womb — with which he is born into 
the world, and which he carries with him to the grave ? At 
present it is connected with flesh and blood, but these are not 
the body— they are only the temporary clothing, which it wholly 
puts off at the grave. 

"The soul seems to be the immediate clothing of the spirit, 
the vehicle with which it is connected from its first existence, 
and which is never separated from it either in life or in death. 
Probably it consists of ethereal or electric, the purest of all mat- 
ter. It does not seem to be affected by the death of the body, 
but envelopes the separate as it does the embodied spirit." 

Now, all this is in perfect harmony with modern Spiritualism, 



The Resurrection. » 193 

though written more than a century since by a remarkable man 
who was far in advance of his age. What was known of elec- 
tricity in Mr. Wesley's age ? And yet it is the best natural 
agent to convey a correct idea of the spiritual body, which, like 
its type, can pass unobstructed through matter, and though not 
omnipresent, can pass like it through space with almost incon- 
ceivable velocity. Well might the Psalmist say we are won- 
derfully made. 

Here is clear demonstration of all that Paul designed, as I 
conceive, to teach of the resurrection. This spiritual body is 
the real man. The natural body is " the temporary clothing, 
which it wholly puts off at the grave." 

When does the resurrection of the body occur ? and what 
body is the resurrection body of which Jesus and Paul speak ? 
That " there is," as Paul says, "a natural body and a spiritual 
body," no one can question who believes the New Testament 
or has any correct knowledge of the complex nature of the be- 
ing made in the image of God. The spiritual body is the real 
being, that has gathered around it, so to speak, by natural 
laws, a material structure, constituting its outer covering, 
which is constantly changing. What is termed death is nothing 
but the throwing off of this material form, which returns to its 
original elements, from which it has been taken. This is a 
simple, natural process, which is in perfect harmony with the 
manner in which God or nature works. 

The material came from and is adapted to its earthly mode 
of existence, and to no other state of being. Man's final des- 
tiny we know is not in the natural world. His material facul- 
ties in the course of nature wear out — " the dust must return 
to the dust as it was, but the spirit to God, who gave it." It 
has accomplished its purpose in its conception, growth, ma- 
turity, and decay is inevitable. He then enters upon a new 
life — a spiritual life, m a spiritual world, and with spiritual sur- 
roundings, as real, and more so, than the earth-life through 
which he has passed. 
9 



194 The Religion of Spiritualty. 

Of what use can there be of a natural body in a spiritual 
world ? We answer, none. Nor, can we believe that the 
writers of the New Testament designed to teach that the spirit 
should ever enter the material body, however refined or changed 
the old theory of resurrection may require to fit it for the 
spiritual world in which it is to live and develop forever. 

But to the law and the testimony. Jesus and Paul are the 
only ones who give us ideas on this momentous question. 
When the materialists of Judea proposed the difficulty of the 
marriage relation in the resurrection to Jesus, He said, " For 
when they shall rise from the dead they neither marry nor are 
given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven" 
(Mark xii. 25). Observe the present tense used in regard to 
those of whom He speaks as well as the angels, verse 26 — 
" And as touching the dead that rise ; have ye not read in the 
book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, 
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob?" Observe the same tense continued — " the 
dead that they rise," not that they will rise at some future time. 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already subjects of the resur- 
rection of which He is speaking. 27 — "He is not the God 
of the dead," (for there are no dead), "but the God of the 
living ; yet therefore do greatly err" who are expecting a resur- 
rection of the natural body in the coming future. 

Again, at the transfiguration of Jesus, " And behold, there 
talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias." 
Moses was not permitted to go over into Canaan, but his body 
was buried on the other side of Jordan, and Elijah went up, we 
know not where, according to the history. Peter, James, and 
John "saw the two men that stood with him." They were 
there in their spiritual bodies, seen and recognized, as many are 
being seen and recognized, by thousands of living witnesses all 
over the world at the present time. 

The resurrected body of Jesus was the type of ours, in His 
appearing first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast 



The Resurrection. 195 

seven devils. After that He appeared in another form unto 
two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. " But 
their eyes were holden that they should not know Him." Then 
the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain, 
where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him 
they worshiped Him, but some doubted." Thomas said on 
another occasion, " Except I shall see in His hands the print 
of the nails, and put my ringer into the print of the nails, 
and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." And 
after eight days again His disciples went within, and Thomas 
with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and 
stood in the midst of them, and said, "Peace be unto 
you." Then said He to Thomas, " Reach, hither thy finger 
and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it 
into my side, and be not faithless, but believing." 

On another occasion he met with Peter and others at the 
" Sea of Tiberias/' where they were fishing, and " Jesus said 
unto them, Come and dine." 

We have quoted the passage from the Evangelists to show 
that the resurrected body of Jesus was a real, tangible body, 
whenever He desired it, and that He came to them when the 
doors were shut, and vanished out of sight when He sat with 
them at meat. It is distinctly declared that our body in the 
resurrection shall be like His. It is a clearly demonstrated fact 
that every characteristic which He manifested after His resur- 
rection is possessed now by the materialized spirits that are seen 
all over the world. And that when they appear their bodies 
are a counterpart of that which they formerly occupied. This 
is as necessary for their identification as it was to convince 
Thomas for Jesus to show the' prints of the nails in His hands 
and the spear in His side. 

The disciples were not developed far enough to comprehend 
that the body their Master appeared to them in was material- 
ized for a purpose. They doubtless believed it to be the 
identical body which had been deposited in Joseph's tomb. 



196 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

There had been a great diversity of oninion in the Church as to 
the nature of the risen body of Jesus. For many years while a 
member of the Book Committee of the Southern Methodist 
Publishing House, at Nashville, we met annually with the 
bishops. At one of our meetings, while dining with a wealthy 
member of the committee, the question as to the kind of a body 
Jesus- had after His resurrection, was discussed freely. We 
found there was quite a difference of opinion among the bishops 
in regard to the nature of the risen body of Jesus. Had we 
been as well posted then as now, we should have given our 
opinion that it was just such a body as we have been seeing for 
several years. 

We are forced to the conclusion by all the investigation we 
are capable of giving this subject, that the resurrection occurs 
at the going out of the spiritual from the natural body. 

Let us now see what Paul says about it : u But some men 
will say, ' How are the dead raised up and with what body do 
they come ? ' Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quick- 
ened except it die ; and that which thou sowest, not that body 
that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or some 
other grain ; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, 
and to every seed His own body." 

Observe, Paul calls the man a fool who would ask the ques- 
tion, " How are the dead raised up ?" The whole vegetable 
kingdom teaches you this lesson. You sow the seed ; it dies, 
and then comes up the body that shall be. The seed does not 
lie in the ground for years before it germinates. Nor does the 
spiritual part which God gave to man wait for the coming 
ages to arise from the natural body with which it has been 
identified. " It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual 
body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. 
The one is of the earth, earthy, the other was breathed into man 
by his Creator when he became a living soul." Solomon, speak- 
ing of the dissolution of the body, says, " Then shall dust return 
to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God, who gave it." 



The Resurrection. 197 

There are insurmountable difficulties to be overcome in be- 
lieving in the literal resurrection of the natural body. We be- 
lieve it is not only unphilosophical, but unscriptural, having no 
foundation in the teachings of Jesus or the apostles. It is a 
weight the Church has had to carry, which they should throw 
off, and take a more natural, reasonable, and scriptural view of 
the whole subject, as taught in the Bible. 

The doctrine of a literal, eternal fire for the punishment of 
the wicked, and the preservation of the particles of matter of 
which the natural body is composed, and reunion with the soul 
at the last day, have made more infidels than all the Humes, 
Volneys, Voltaires, and Paines who have ever written. The 
world demands a reasonable religion, and will be satisfied with 
no other. The sooner this is learned and taught, the better it 
will be for humanity. There are some ministers we know who 
have already discarded the old theory of the resurrection, as 
well as some other dogmas that have impeded the spread of 
truth among thinking people. Let them " lay aside every 
weight," and present the teachings of Jesus, and the definition 
of true religion as given by Jesus as the sum and substance of 
the Gospel, which is indeed glad tidings of great joy to all peo- 
ple, which all may receive and rejoice in the hope of a blissful 
immortality. 

I make the following extract from a sermon preached in 
Nashville, Tennessee, and published in pamphlet form, by Rev. 
Dr. D. C. Kelly. He is one of the most prominent ministers 
in the M. E. Church South. His father was a member of the 
Tennessee Conference for many years, and his son a mission- 
ary to China for a considerable time. He has always been, and 
now is, appointed to the most important work in the Church. 
Though he may not avow u any theory of our own," yet the 
reader will clearly see his views are in harmony with ours on 
the resurrection question : 

" Let it be remembered in the outset, that the popular 
theories of the resurrection result from opinions formed at a 



198 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

time when the men who gave birth to them were in almost total 
ignorance of their own physical constitution. The circulation 
of the blood, the processes of digestion, assimilation, and ex- 
cretion which are now known to be in unceasing action in every 
living man, were unknown. In this state of ignorance, personal 
identity was supposed in some way to be inseparably connected 
with physical identity. Now, we know that through processes 
of assimilation and excretion every particle of the matter which 
makes the man of to-day may disappear from his frame, and 
their places be supplied with other particles, and yet the identity 
of person be fully maintained. We now know that in the elemen- 
tary substances which compose our body we have nothing which 
is not common to nature all around us. Later discoveries tell 
us that these elements are not only ours, in common with our 
earth, but a common property of the worlds which flame around 
us. It can not be wondered, then, that intelligent men of to- 
day ask, Why hunt up the very particles of matter which went 
into the grave ? 

" We do not pause at the Old Testament. Jesus declares 
Himself the ' resurrection and the life ; ' so we shall expect to find 
this doctrine in the New Testament, in its fullest light. We are 
the better satisfied to do this, since many able theologians deny 
that the doctrine of the resurrection is anywhere to be found 
plainly stated in the Old Testament. 

" We come to this examination of Scripture without any 
theory of our own to support. We shall look to the Script- 
ure without bias, and we only suggest expositions in a tenta- 
tive form. 

"Matt. xxii. 29-32 : l Jesus answered and said unto them, 
Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. 
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in . 
marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as 
touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that 
which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of 
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? God 



The Resurrection. 199 

is ''not the God of the dead, but of the living.' Either Jesus 
holds in this passage that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had al- 
ready acquired their resurrection bodies, or else He holds that 
they were living a resurrection life, without bodies. Taking 
the text in its own light, without any attempt to fit it into a 
theory, it is incapable of any other construction. To say, as has 
often been done, that Jesus meant to answer an opinion of the 
Sadducees, not expressed in their question, is gratuitous, and 
wanting in proper candor. Jesus was speaking for the ages, and 
answered the question, not for His hearers alone, but for all 
time. 

" As yet we have found no explicit teaching which looks to 
the assignment of a Christian believer to a necessary and un- 
avoidable waiting for a distant and future resurrection. As yet 
we have found only a personal resurrection of the dead, or from 
the dead ; no intimation that to make that personal identity 
complete there must be a waiting for a process of some kind to 
take place after death in the grave. There is no intimation 
of a break in the personal entirety. 

" Before taking up the texts which deal directly with the 
body, let my thoughtful hearer pause for a moment and make 
up his mind as to what it is that makes up our autonomy, or 
selfhood. Is this selfhood divisible ? Can the individual man 
be in two places at once ? When we find Christ saying to the 
thief on the cross, ' To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise,' 
when the history tells us that the dead body of Christ was that 
day in the grave, have we not Christ's declaration that He did 
not regard His selfhood or that of the thief as being with the 
body in the grave ? When we remember that this same Jesus 
had told the Sadducees that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were 
in the resurrection life, though their bodies were yet in the 
grave, we may find it very necessary to broaden our view of the 
resurrection, no longer contemplating the grave-body as the 
great idea in that life, especially when we find that the resurrec- 
tion of the body is not a scriptural phrase ; when, therefore, 



200 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the resurrection of the dead is referred to, is the thought in the 
mind of the spirit, the selfhood, the person, or is it the dead 
corpse ? Does selfhood, does personality, attach to the corpse ? 
Then were there two Christs or two thieves that day ? Can I 
both be in a grave and in heaven ? When a fact is uttered 
of you, therefore, are you to expect it to apply to your self- 
hood or to your corpse ? So much by way of simple, honest 
work, in clearing the ground for the earnest seeker after truth. 

"When Paul attempts to explain the connection between the 
two, he takes an illustration from a grain sown. If we follow 
this illustration literally, we find no intervening time between 
the death of the grain and the life of the resultant body. The 
grain is sown ; the surrounding pulp begins to die — i. e., to dis- 
solve, to separate into its original elements. The new body 
begins to form — it has not in it a single particle of the matter 
which was in the grain in the form in which it existed in the grain; 
it takes from the grain, during the life of the grain, all that it 
is ever to receive from the grain. If the grain should actually 
die but one moment before the new body has acquired its own 
life, that resultant body can never come into existence. 

" If this simple and natural view of the illustration given by 
the apostle be correct, we have not yet found Scripture author- 
ity for an intervening disembodied existence for the saints be- 
tween death and the resurrection. 

" Will you divest your minds for one moment of the shackles of 
traditionalism, and give your earnest, unbiased thought to the 
only passage of Scripture which attempts to answer the ques- 
tion, ' With what body do they come?' Hear Paul reply, i 
Cor. xv. 37 : 'Thou so west not that body that shall be/ He 
declares this in words, and then proceeds to illustrate his dec- 
laration in a way that every physiologist knows leaves no room 
for doubt. The body which is sown reappears not in itself, 
but in a body which is identical in kind. The grain of wheat 
does not reappear in a single atom of its matter ; neither is the 
resultant body barley or rye, but wheat. The illustration, if it 



The Resurrection. 201 

teach anything on this point, is positive that the risen body 
does not receive from the grave a particle of the matter that 
enters there ; yet that it does retain not only the specific at- 
tributes of humanity (it is not brute or angel), but it retains 
also the individuality of the person, and that it is not a natural, 
but a spiritual body, but none the less a body. To find the 
body which results from the sown grain of wheat, you do not 
go to the place where it was sown, but to the garner into which 
it has been gathered. They are with Christ, they come with 
Him. With what body do they come ? With a body such as 
God pleaseth, and yet a body which is individually their own, 
both as it stands related to the present and the past — a spirit- 
ual body." 

Let us now see what the New Testament says in regard to 
this profoundly interesting subject. First hear what Jesus says 
respecting it : 

" Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the 
bush, when he called the Lord God of Abraham, the God of 
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the 
dead, but of the living ; for all live unto Him " (Luke xx. 37, 
38). This magnificent statement declares several things. 1. 
That, as seen by the Lord, there is no such a thing as a dead 
man / or that the death of the body is not the decease of the 
man. 2. That the dead are raised ; not that they shall be or 
may hope to be raised, but that the resurrection of the dead is 
a fact now taking place— the raising of the man from the dead 
body. 3. That this resurrection was taking place in the days 
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, for they had been " raised." 
4. That Moses was, to some extent, conscious of the certainty 
of this fact. 5. That the apparently simple expression of God 
being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is at the same 
time a divinely-given testimony to the fact of their continued 
existence, and a prophetic declaration that the " heirs to the 
promises " shall in like manner be raised, when it shall please 
the Divine Wisdom to call them home to Himself. 



202 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Some of those thus raised are spoken of by the apostle as 
"the spirits of just men made perfect" (Heb. xii. 23). Now, 
if they were already perfect, it must be folly to presume that 
they are enjoying only a moiety of existence, pining in longing 
anticipation for a reunion with their to-be-resuscitated material 
bodies, which in their old earthly state they rejoiced to cast 
away. 

The term resurrection, or a rising again," no more implies 
the resuscitation of the dead body than does " being born 
again " imply the re-entrance into the world through the womb 
of the mother. Nicodemus misunderstood the one, and many 
persons appear only able to misunderstand the other expres- 
sion. Man rises from the dead ; it is only the body that is 
dead ; and resurrection, therefore, is man's rising from the dead 
body. 

This view of the resurrection renders it universal, immediate, 
and certain. It abolishes the intellectual nightmare of a mid- 
dle condition of disembodiment ; it strips death of all the dark 
imaginations with which it has been invested ; as the Scriptures 
teach us, " it abolishes death" for " death is swallowed up in 
victory;" and through the Gospel "life and immortality are 
brought to light." The babe born this morning has entered 
upon a life which can never be destroyed. God has formed it 
so far in His image as to have endowed it henceforth with the 
attribute of eternal being. Its existence for weal or woe is now 
an unalterable fact ; it is now a pillar that can never be thrown 
down ; a flame that can never be extinguished. Mutations 
may, and must pass over it, in the career of its pilgrimage be- 
low ; the great mutation of physical death must be endured at 
the end thereof ; but the being still lives on, and will live on 
forever, an identity never to be merged into that of any other 
being, and a consciousness that shall never be lost. 

The Scripture warrants the belief that spirits are substantial 
men, not composed of earthly, but of spiritual and never-dying 
substance ; and the apostle has de oted a large portion of his 



The Resurrection. 203 

First Epistle to the Corinthians to elucidate this subject. In 
it he declares, " There is a natural body, and there is a spirit- 
ual body" (1 Cor. xv. 35-50) ; and further asserts that " the 
natural body is sown, and the spiritual body rises." He very 
felicitously compares the sowing, death, and rising of man, to 
the sowing, death, and germination of grain. This comparison 
is so complete that it deserves minute consideration. The 
apostle makes use of three terms in relation to both man and 
grain ; and to fix the analogy it will be necessary to determine 
the resemblance of each term. We begin with the middle 
phrase. The death of the grain symbolizes the death of man. 
Both must die before they can rise. But sowing, the first term, 
must take place before the death of either. This shows that 
the sowing of the grain can not be analogous to the burial of 
man's dead body ; and this for several reasons ; first, the man 
is not present in the body when that is interred — we inter it 
only because he is no longer there ; and secondly, the sowing 
takes place before death, according to the apostle, whereas in- 
terment does not take place till after death. A further reason 
why the apostle can not have designed to compare the sowing 
the grain to the interment of the dead body, is that many dead 
bodies are not interred at all. And a still further reason is, 
that the third term of the comparison will be altogether frus- 
trated by the assignment of such an interpretation to the first. 
What portion of man's history is it then, we ask, which is 
analogous to the sowing of the grain ? The apostle is speak- 
ing of man's being sown, not of any sowing of man's body. We 
answer, man is sown into the world when he is born into the 
world, just as the grain is sown into the earth when placed 
there. The man is sown by birth into the world in order that 
he may die, just as the grain is sown into the earth, its world, 
in order that it may die. The whole of the description is strik- 
ingly apposite to this interpretation. In a far higher than a 
mere gross, material sense, man is sown in " corruption, dis- 
honor, weakness," when, as a natural body, he enters by birth 



204 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

into the world. The " sowing " is the beginning of man's earth- 
life, or life on the earth ; and the hereditary propensities to evil, 
the lusts of sense, and the frivolities of time, render it far too 
often and too much a whole scene of corruption, dishonor, and 
weakness. 

Man's death is compared to the death of the grain. This 
comparison is exactly accurate. In the grain it is only the 
husk that dies. With the man it is only the husk — the natural 
body, the physical envelope — that dies. When the husk of the 
grain dies, the germ of new life has sprouted forth ; and when 
the physical envelope of the man dies, the spiritual being is 
released from it and ascends. It is necessary that the grain 
should be sown that it may die, and it is necessary that it should 
be both sown and die that the germ of new life may ascend in- 
to the bright light and warm sunshine above its earthly resting- 
place. And, in like manner, man must be born that he may 
die, and both be born and die in order that he may rise a spir- 
itual, immortal being. The providential purpose in the im- 
plantation of the germ of life within the grain was, that by dy- 
ing a more munificent life might be developed ; and the great 
design in the birth of man was, that by dying, a nobler exist- 
ence might be attained. The enlarged multiplication of the 
species, as the result of the death of the grain, is the symbol of 
the enhanced development of the powers and privileges, the 
gifts and the glory of human existence, to be realized in the 
other life. 

The third term requires consideration. Not only are they 
alike sown and do they die alike, but there is a further resem- 
blance in the quickening of the man and the germination of 
the grain. The dead husk and starchy substance of the grain 
do not rise ; but the living germ, from the husk, the living prin- 
ciple, from the body of the seed. So, in like manner, man's 
spirit rises from the dead body ; its ascent from the body is the 
cause and sign of death. The dead husk wastes away in the 
soil, and the dead body molders back to dust. The life-germ 



The Resurrection. 205 

in both cases has no further need of the outer envelope it wore, 
and can put it to no further use. Without it, both the sprout- 
ing stem of wheat and the risen spirit of man are more glorious 
things than they were before. 

Sometimes the comparison of the apostle is regarded as 
illustrating a fancied resurrection of the dead body ; but this 
view is evidently wrong. It illustrates most felicitously the 
resurrection of the living man from the dead body ; but to 
attempt to interpret it otherwise renders the comparison singu- 
larly inapt. The germination of a seed is not the resuscitation 
of the dead husk, the covering of the germ ; and the resurrec- 
tion of the man is not any resuscitation of the body. The 
germination of the grain is the bursting up of its inner living 
principle into a more beautiful and a new form of existence ; 
and the resurrection of the man is the rising up of his living 
principle — his spirit — into a new and grander existence. Con- 
sequently, the apostle has been really treating of the resurrec- 
tion of the man from the dead body, not of the resuscitation 
of the dead body itself. The impersonal pronoun " it," used 
in our translation of the passage (1 Cor. xv. 42-44), is not 
used or implied in the Greek. The man has been clothed with 
a mortal, a natural body, "the earthly house of this taber- 
nacle," and the man is raised an " incorruptible, immortal, spir- 
itual body," or has put on " the house not made with hands, 
the building of God, eternal in the heavens." 

Addressing some who believed in the old Hebrew and 
Egyptian idea of the resurrection of the dead body, the apos- 
tle declares in the same chapter, " Thou fool ; that which thou 
sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be" (1 Cor. xv. 
36, 37) ; for, as he asserts again, " Flesh and blood can not in- 
herit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit in- 
corruption " (ver. 50) ; or, as he more emphatically expresses 
it, " the natural body is sown, and the spiritual body is raised" 
(ver. 44). He no more means that the dead natural body shall 
at some future day be sublimated and transformed into a spir- 



2o6 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

itual body, than he intends to teach that the dead husk of the 
grain shall be transformed into the living plant. That is dead 
and done with, and dead because done with ; and up from the 
dead husk or body the living principle rises. The birth, death, 
and resurrection of the man, and the sowing, death, and germi- 
nation of the grain, are thus mutually representative ; and the 
comparison of the apostle is justified and borne out even into 
details. In both, death is, therefore, the gate of life. Or more 
properly speaking, there is no death as it is taught by theology. 
The poet may sing he is the king of terrors. The philosopher, 
in prying into those mysterious laws of the origin of life and its 
continuance by the appropriation of matter, may say it is the 
cessation of life. We ask now, What is death ? but the echo 
comes from the spirit-world and reverberates all through 
earth's domain, that there is no death. It finds the body 
feeble and worn out ; crippling the young limbs of the 
soul ; fettering its higher soarings : blinding the soul's eager 
sight ; benumbing the stretched ears that strive to catch 
the inner harmonies of creation. It bursts the bars of the prison 
— throws down the doors that the " inner man " may ascend. 
The body is as the chrysalis concealed in the grub. It rends 
the pupa case that the psyche may come forth. It is the pulling 
down of the scaffolding that the building may be discovered. 
It is as warder opening the gates of mortality to immortality, 
introducing men to the sublimest associations of the heavenly 
assembly ; our guide over the slender bridge that spans the gulf 
between this life and the next ; the great revealer, lifting the 
dark screen that has long concealed what we have so long and 
so eagerly desired to behold. It is the drawing aside the veil 
which separates the visible from the invisible world. It is the 
opening of the spirit eyes and ears to see and converse with the 
loved ones who wait to welcome us to homes prepared for us 
in the better land — the mansions in our Father's House. • This 
view of the resurrection obviates the many objections that are 
made to the old theory by scientists, and removes one of the 



The Resurrection. 207 

most serious difficulties in the way of skepticism to Christianity. 
The primitive Church entertained more correct views of this 
subject than it now teaches. When visiting the catacombs of 
ancient Rome, we could see their sentiments by the inscriptions 
on their tombs : 

" Born " — at such a time. 

"Born to a higher life ,? — at another. 

This second birth, or continuation of life, is what is meant in 
the Scriptures, we think, by the term resurrection. 

After we had finished our chapter on the resurrection, a vol- 
ume, entitled " Beyond the Grave," by Bishop Randolph S. 
Foster, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was published. 
We procured a copy, and read it with much interest. He takes 
about the same view of the Resurrection that Dr. Kelly does. 
He says '' that Moses and Elias were in the resurrection state, 
wearing their immortal bodies." Again, pages 18 1-2 : 

" To the view of the Resurrection here presented there can 
be no objection. It is in the line of Divine analogies. It is 
free from grotesque and offensive implications. It is reasona- 
ble. It harmonizes with Scripture statements, It meets all 
the demands of the affections. It is sublime ! It is in ac- 
cord with a plan of progressive glory, according to the Pauline 
idea. 

" The resurrection state is the culmination of glorified hu- 
manity — is the change of the earthly for the heavenly — is the 
putting off the flesh and blood, and the putting on of the spir- 
itual body. The resurrection is the standing again after death ; 
the body of the resurrection is the body with which the spirit is 
clothed for its celestial life. The organizing life-principle is un- 
interrupted and identical ; it begins in the natural, and weaves 
its curious integuments of dust for earthly use. It weaves the 
new robes for the departing soul ; it fashions the celestial or- 
ganism, or, more properly, God gives us a body as it hath 
pleased Him now and beyond the grave." .... 

" 1 wish to put on record here that, for myself, there is noth- 



2o8 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ing in any particle of flesh or blood that ever belonged to my 
body that creates in me the least desire to ever see it again. 

". . . . Beyond the grave we have found that the spirit 
is immortal, and that it will be clothed upon with a new form 
when the old one perishes — a house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens — a house, not a tent." 

These are the views we have quoted from the founder of 
Methodism, and which, we believe, will be the view taken by the 
churches at no distant day. It is the same entertained by Spirit- 
ualists, and the teaching of those who are now in the resurrection 
state with whom we have held communication on the subject. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SPIRIT-WORLD . 

Brother Peebles, in a letter to our home medium, writes : 
" I want some spirit to come and control you, giving a minute 
description of the spirit- world, and his or her spirit home. No 
perambulating — we've had too many of them leading us into 
confusion. We want details and exactness. I want it to pub- 
lish in our homes and employments hereafter." 

We give it to the readers of this volume : 

" The spirit-world is not far removed from the natural world. 
In point of appearance the spirit-world closely resembles the 
natural world. The similarity is too striking for you to believe. 
The mind views spirit in the sense of intangibility, as something 
like misty nothingness, when the truth is, spirit to spiritual 
things is tangible and real. The spirit-world, as we term it, is 
the abode of undeveloped spirits — those who have not long left 
the body, and those who, by the laws of spirit-life, have not 
arisen to higher spheres by progression. Here they are in- 
structed in regard to higher aims and spheres ; here spirits 
from the higher spheres come to talk to them of God's love, 
and make them feel they are bound to Him by that electric 
chain which holds every atom of God's creation together. Love 
makes this chain bright always, and the ages of eternity will 
only serve to increase its brightness. The spirit-world is en- 
circled by this chain, and spirits who are not developed above 
the transgressions and errors committed while in the body, 

(209) 



210 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

could never feel the influence of this electric brightness were 
they not directed and instructed by those who, with feelings 
God-like, come to them, making their abode brighter by telling 
them of their union with God and holy angels by this electric 
chain of love. 

" Springs from this love put forth their streams, which run 
through the spirit-world in sparkling rivulets, much like those 
of earth, but the water is of electric brightness, which comes 
from the fountain, God. 

u Fruits grow here, but their sweetness and delicious flavor 
come from the parent tree, God, and are delicious in propor- 
tion as the soul seeks after Him. We know these things, for 
jn the spirit- world we learned to teach others the truths we re- 
ceived from higher spheres. The sun shines, making the spirit* 
world present the appearance of sparkling electric emanations 
from bodies surcharged with that element. This brightness 
can not be seen by those whose souls were in darkness, as 
' those who had long been dead' in trespasses and sin. 
' Eyes have they, but they see not ; ears have they, but they 
hear not,' for God was not in all their thoughts while in the 
body ; now they must ' work out their salvation.' Spirits help 
them only as they help those on the earth plane. We come 
to them, teaching them as we teach you. They receive our in- 
structions as you often do, with infidel trust. This prevents 
our help, but we labor on ; one soul is worth thousands of 
worlds like this and earth. Ministers often say this without 
feeling the full import of the sentiment. God sends us to 
gather from the four corners of the earth and spirit realm those 
His love created and redeemed. 

" My spirit home is in what we know as the fifth sphere. 
Here the spirit bodies of those who have passed through the 
first spheres of progression live when not engaged on errands of 
mercy to lower spheres, and teaching earth ones the duties 
which Christ came to teach them. Here we meet in council 
to delegate messengers with power to operate in matters per- 



Spirit- World . 211 

taining to spiritual development and carrying out the plans of 
God's ministration of government. His plans are executed 
by His ministering angels. They come to us from higher 
courts, and send us to those lower in the plan of God's govern- 
ments. It is our council that directs mortals in spiritual 
affairs. Then those below us, more material in their offices, 
impress in temporal matters. Here the spirit is more devel- 
oped, and the spiritual life is more perfect than in lower spheres. 
Material resemblances lose their influence, and more of God is 
seen, because God is spirit, and can not be seen in material 
things. Consequently the materialized aspect of the spirit- 
world passes away, and love and wisdom, which belong only to 
God, fill the realm. Christ presides more personally here 
than in the lower spheres, where He is known as their material 
sun. The spirit- world is the abode of those who know Christ 
as the ' light of the world.' He directs the ministerial employ- 
ments ; He sends us by the power of God, and bids us go into 
all the world, teaching the commandments He gave them before 
He left the body. God is seen here in Christ, ' reconciling the 
world,' and bringing the souls He has created to the fold which 
Christ meant when He said, ' the sheep know the shepherd's 
call, and will follow him.' 

" The sphere in which we dwell can not be described by 
comparing it with material things, for all is spiritual, and l God 
in Christ' is the glory of it. This is ail I can tell you. More 
you can not comprehend while body and spirit are unitod, for 
all things partake of the nature of earthly things when spirit 
looks through mortal being. Spirit is spirit, and can only be 
seen with the internal being, and that must be freed from ma- 
terial surroundings before it can see God in all His power and 
goodness, and wisdom and love. 

" Mr. Peebles must wait until he comes over for details and 
perfect description of spirit life and homes. We can not adapt 
our descriptions to his material understanding so as to give 
him what he desires." 



212 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

bishop otey, the episcopal bishop of* tennessee. 

I was intimately associated with this eminent divine for 
many years. Our acquaintance commenced when I was sta- 
tioned in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1838, and continued until 
he terminated his earth-life. We were together much during 
our investigations of Spiritualism in 1855. Soon after I with- 
drew from the Church, at a seance with Mrs. Hollis, he talked 
with me for some time audibly. I will copy the account I gave 
in "The Clock Struck Two" : 

" One of the friends of each person spoke to them, not so 
loud, but distinctly. Bishop Otey was the one who spoke to 
me. He said : ' Mr. Watson, you have done right. You 
should not have remained where you were not at liberty to 
express your sentiments freely. Every pulpit in the land will 
proclaim this truth, and every household will enjoy the blessed 
privilege of communing with loved ones. You will live to 
preach this glorious truth from the pulpit to the people.' He 
referred to our investigations here in 1855 ; said What he be- 
lieved then, now he knew to be truth. He spoke very approv- 
ingly of ' Clock Struck Two/ and said I must get out another 
edition of ' Clock Struck One.' ' As soon as you can, go on 
with your work, and I will be your guide and counselor.' " 

I have many reasons for believing that he has faithfully ful- 
filled this voluntary pledge given many years since. The fol- 
lowing from him was given through Mrs. Hawks : 

" I come to you, my friends, not a stranger, for I labored 
among you for years ; and I found much happiness in your 
midst, and realized the joy of divine inspiration. I was called 
away before my work was finished — laid aside my earthly robes 
for heavenly robes, and entered into the kingdom of my Father, 
where I found a new field of labor encircled by all my earthly 
works, binding me so closely to them, that I found it very diffi- 
cult to understand that the change had taken place and I was 
indeed dead. 



Spirit-World. 



213 



" The knowledge soon came to me, and with it the grand 
truth, that, though I were dead, I still lived ; and, by the will 
of the Holy Spirit, my soul could move and act as when in the 
body. My first desire was to return to my people and strive 
to make my presence known. My wish to return was granted, 
but the power to make myself known failed, inasmuch as they 
had hardened their hearts against the truth, and I was forced 
back into the shadows of uncertainty, and a season of doubt 
possessed me. But as the new light revealed itself, I learned 
to see. through the shadows, and to understand that there was 
a law which governed individuals as well as principles, and that 
I must learn to understand the law which governed the human 
system ere I could find the way to make myself known. 

" Many kind friends came to me. I attached myself to a. 
great soul, whose life had been sanctified through true and di- 
vine principles. He became my teacher, and, like a true dis- 
ciple, I have followed him faithfully, learning each day more 
and more of God's divine presence, and the power which works 
through all life, and bringeth in the end perfection unto all. 

" Let me converse with you upon the spirit realm. 

" Its locality I can not designate. It is beyond the power 
of the finite mind. There is a spirit-world around you, where 
move millions of undeveloped souls, who daily communicate 
errors through mediums. Ignorant, undeveloped souls, the 
same as when they inhabited the body, the change from their 
earth-tenements has not lifted them beyond their earth-desires 
and wants. If the spirit was not exalted in its aspirations, if 
the soul did not reach out toward God while in the bod) 7 , 
death will not exalt it. You have more perfect angels in the 
body, who, as men, women, and children, live upon your earth, 
than those who come through many mediums and call them- 
selves perfect. Such spirits can not leave your earthly atmos- 
phere to visit the higher spheres. The pure in spirit, who still 
dwell within the portals of earthly flesh, are nearer each day 
the heavenly kingdom than they. 



214 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" Your earth with its conditions forms a type of our sphere, 
with its many circles. You receive from us false and true com- 
munications. Clouds as well as sunshine visit you. 

" The teachings of spirits are the reflex of their souls, bearing 
upon the mirrored surface of the medium's brain. 

" Every description of spirit-homes, spirit-advice, and com- 
munication comes to you as the medium may be advanced 
spiritually, or as her perceptive faculties may be. The powers 
of reception are aroused by the increase of the spiritual, and 
the perceptive is colored by the receptacle. 

" The more spiritual and true the medium's life, the more 
divine and perfect the reflex which comes to you. 

" In our spheres we have concord and discord of sentiment ; 
jve have the subjective and the objective. Life is purer and truer 
than upon earth, and subject to the same varieties of opinion. 
The higher and more glorious spheres we have no power to 
explain, nor could it be understood by any but those who have 
attained that degree of purity which enables them to enter in 
through the golden gateway. 

" We are aided from the higher spheres, and, as we purify 
ourselves, we become more ethereal, and with higher love, 
reach out for a more perfect sphere. It is even so with you 
of earth ; as you advance spiritually, you reach out toward the 
sphere above you, and ministering spirits come to direct you 
to a condition of life beyond that which you dwell in. 

" Below you, around you, and above you lies a spirit-world. 
An element of spirits is everywhere. Concentric groups move 
in the sphere congenial to others. They are attracted to their 
localities by a law which forces all to their sphere ; as they 
merit reward, so they receive it. They gravitate through their 
spiritual development by the same law of gravity which is in 
nature. 

" As ye are at death, so ye awaken into the new life ; every 
deed alive and strong with you. Memory forges links which 
can not be severed ; they are eternal. The more perfect and 



Spirit- World. 215 

bright the links in memory's chain, the purer and holier the 
heaven. Kingdoms of glory grow from the soul, and he who 
has brought his life to that stage of goodness which brings him, 
while still in the body, nearer unto our Father's kingdom, has 
felt and realized heaven, and established for himself a sphere 
like unto the higher spheres in the spirit-world. 

" As our sphere is composed of many circles, so is yours. 
Man's advancement forms the circle. . So with us, the growth 
of the spirit seeks a circle higher wherein to move, and, as our 
wisdom and refinement increase, so in like proportion is the 
sphere which we attain, and that which once appeared high to 
us, now seems low. Our situation becomes perfect as our 
spirits advance, and we are forced to enter into conditions 
suited to our spirit-growth. 

" Divinity is the center pivot upon which all advanced cir- 
cles move, and, by the power of love, all are bound. It is the 
golden cord of salvation which unites our world with the earth 
and all its spirit-surroundings. 

" Go to work, my brethren, to create for yourselves a spir- 
itual element which shall bring the ' kingdom of heaven on 
earth,' that out of the material life may grow more souls for 
the advanced spheres, and less for the low and dark condi- 
tions ; that your ignorance may no longer be visited upon you 
through the undeveloped spirits who find their way to your 
homes through unenlightened mediums." — Seance conducted 
by J. B. Ferguson. 

On another occasion he wrote as follows : " My friends, 
once more I stand in your midst — once more lift my voice that 
it may be heard by the people. I come not as an angel of 
light clothed in bright raiment, but as a brother man, desir- 
ing to teach you what I have learned since I left your land. I 
have no, text, I know no sect, nor conform to any creed; I 
come not to preach a sermon, but to speak to you in a natural 
way, and teach you of the glory of the spirit plane, of the grand 
visions of Deity, and the progress of the soul from earth to 



2i6 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Paradise. In dream-like slumber my spirit was borne far above 
rainbow lights, through stiver shades and rosy clouds. From 
the dream I awoke amid the sound of song that came from a 
hundred voices ; anthem after anthem swelled upon the breeze, 
and the chorus burst forth from hundreds more in one joyous 

" ' God unveils the hidden world; 
Soul, thy journey now pursue ! ' 

" I moved onward at times with great rapidity, then again I 
would find myself moving slowly, and seemed to be detained 
by the influence of a power beyond mine own, which drew me 
backward. I have since learned this was the grief of my friends 
upon the earth. My angel guide filled my heart with a feeling 
of veneration which lifted me up and bid my spirit seek higher 
for its home. As we moved onward I caught a glimpse of 
jeweled skies, a splendor of sunbeams, which filled my being 
with enraptured life ; fragrance filled the air, and melody 
sounded everywhere: A sense of perfect rest filled my spirit, 
and my heart was full of love. 

a My spirit shook its raiment from its earthly shell, and its 
brain quickened with the sense of new worlds afar from gross 
material atoms. Memory lingered and gathered in the sowing 
and reaping of the many seasons of my life ; shadows fell over 
some, and o'er others sunshine, but the lifting up came through 
deeds well done, and my frame grew strong, and every pulse 
contained a living might wherein dwelt an eternal truth, made 
grand by an everlasting love. 

" I felt the influence of the divine, or better part of myself. 
I knew that my spirit, as a crystal globe, reflected the Maker's 
hand. I felt a life all new, and from that life I drew a power 
which gave me strength and crowned me with a majesty which 
led me from the dusty form which I had worn for years, and 
my soul, as the temple of my spirit, glowed with the electric 
touch of its new life. God's love encompassed me, and more 



Spirit-World. 217 

and more His image shone, as saints and seraphim around me 
gathered. 

" Here was a blending and unfolding of glories all new to me, 
but the light and splendor that draped their lives and filled their 
souls with love revealed to me the reflex of a more divine and 
perfect light — a light from the Eternal and Infinite. His Spirit 
shone through all. 

" My spirit paused, and calmly questioned through its faculties, 
God's infinitude. I gazed afar off, to the right hand and the 
left, upward and downward, and I saw that every form, accord- 
ing to its place, received a touch of splendor from His Spirit ; 
His power created all forces, and all were subject to His will. 
I saw that all divine light was but the light of His love, and as 
that love increased the nearer drew that form to the Spirit of 
the Infinite ; and as the light increased, so increased His Spirit 
there, until through the .form that once upon the earth had 
dwelt, creation worked outward, and new thoughts were born 
♦to build new worlds, and bring new species of life to work in 
turn their life up to God. 

iC As my spirit mused my soul grew stronger, and-light fell 
clearer across my brain ; and like a chain of births I gathered 
in the soul's advance, until I saw within myself, soul and spirit 
take its form, and mind and heart create the will over, while 
the brain tranquillized the whole. I saw its workings from the 
outer and the inner wall, and the mind through sensation 
moved, worked through life upon matter, chasing time, living 
in the past, and building for the future. Each kind sought its 
own, its separate sphere, suited to its mind, and built its faith 
upon its own conditions. 

u One Great Spirit reaches all, wheresoever they be. Each 
planet is inhabited by a separate race, yet all derive their life 
from the one great Life, and are illumed by His Spirit. Noth- 
ing has changed amid the countless orbs of heaven since first 
they sang their awakening song. It is man who moves the 
countless changes over earth's broad belt. He lifts or debases 
10 



218 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the framework of beautiful life. He closes the portals of his 
inner being and hides the image of God. The world grows in 
wondrous arts, and increased science crowns man as victor ; but 
the beautiful garden of the soul is left uncultivated, and angels 
can not find their way amid the debris which has gathered there. 
The love which comes to lift the spirit to its soul-center, is lost 
amid ambition and selfish deeds. 

" The fine-arts with their beauteous shades, the great inven- 
tions made to bless the earth, all fail to lift the spirit where the 
light of love supreme forever dwells. The spirit can not soar 
to where, all radiant, showers this light, until it seeks within the 
inner wall, where lies buried the light which comes from God. 

" I was aroused from my meditations by my guardian angel, 
and onward 1 felt myself urged, and -with rapid speed I was 
propelled past green fields and perfect flowers. I queried, 
c Am I passing through another sphere down to earth ? ' But 
no, this can not be; for the same beautiful, intoxicating light 
lives here. It is in the flowers and over the hill-tops, and fills 
all nature with a halo unknown to earth. I am but in another 
sphere, more real than earth, more perfect, pure, and good ; all 
seems touched with the rays of fhe. setting sun, and everything 
is bathed in a calm of divine content. Perfect love flows as 
sweet music over all. This is the plane of c golden life ' ; all 
drink from the Celestial Fount of God. It is one of the bright 
rounds of the ladder of the universe, and the golden threads of 
time know no end. Waves upon waves of music unceasingly 
roll, and God's great Spirit centers all; while radiating circles 
around the Center increase the Infinite in the finite form. 

" What a grand space of beauty lay before me ! So perfect 
was the universe of spheres ! My soul was touched when I saw 
how harmonious worked the divine laws. The weaker I saw were 
here by the stronger sustained, and all by the one great Power 
held up. Within a perfect solar light an interior ray dwells, 
more perfect than the light reflects, and all seem fed from this 
one great central Sun. 



Spirit-World. 219 

" I found as my soul in strength increased, that my intuitive 
powers awakened, and I saw unrevealed interior forms, which 
seemed to hold within themselves second selves. I saw that 
every atom bore upon its face the impress of an uncreated 
shape. ' I will strive to know more of this.' So my spirit 
spoke ; and then I wondered, will these atoms take unto them- 
selves forms, and become organisms ? But my spirit could 
not answer. All that I had learned while upon earth, my long 
years of study, the constant culture of my mind, could not 
reach the wonderful works I saw revealed. I could but gather 
glimmerings. I must begin anew, and gather knowledge where 
the lights are clear and reflect truths. 

"I found myself moving onward, the air fragrant, delight- 
fully so, flowers glowing with their diamond centers. Two 
loved ones joined me, and journeyed by my side. My breast 
throbbed with joy, and my frame was quivering with ecstatic 
bliss. I saw before me a line drawn which looked like the 
margin of the sea when gilded by the rays of the setting sun. 
A calm, holy light sprang up, and all life seemed to bow in 
solemn grandeur. I saw I was entering another circle. I 
moved through a curtain of fleecy whiteness into greater glories 
than ever my mind had conceived ; and I turned to speak to 
my companion ; for until that moment I found I could not give 
utterance to my thoughts. How glad the sound which with 
joy burst from my daughters' lips, ' Father, we are entering 
our home ! ' 

" My soul leaped with joy to once more hear the dear voices 
of my beloved daughters, their souls responded to mine, and 
from their spirits there came a strong love-light which lifted my 
spirit high upon the golden waves of beauty. The air around 
me was like shimmering waves, flashing and then softening like 
Eden's twilight, tranquillizing into a serene and holy calm which 
lulled me into slumber. How long I slept I know not. I awoke 
to find myself in a softly-lighted grotto, shaded by palm trees 
and twining vines with scarlet berries acd fragrant flowers. A 



2 2o The Religion of Spiritualism. 

sense of loneliness came upon me which the beauty of the place 
could not dispel. 

" I arose and walked out of the grotto to meet my daughters, 
with my father and my mother. Who can tell the joy of that 
meeting? My father stood before me in the prime of man- 
hood — my mother, a beautifully matured woman of twenty. 
I gazed in wonder ; old age had left them, and into the 
new life they had sprang regenerated. I wondered if I too 
had found the charge, and from my soul they caught the 
thought, and my mother led me into a temple where clear 
crystal formed the walls, and there I saw myself in early man- 
hood's grace, while all around me floated the deeds of my life, 
in countless numbers strangely mixed — some brightly light, 
others clouded and crossed with deep lines. 

" Clearly came to me the truth, ' There is no death.' My 
mother said, ' My son, it is memory you see. It will be ever 
with you, as eternal as your inner soul. Time with its progres- 
sive line will increase the brighter lights until the dark and 
strangely crossed will fade, but the reflective powers of your 
being will never cease to be.' 

" Then I felt upon my soul a lingering dimness of my former 
self, and I struggled to expand my mind to gather in more 
clearly these strange and new revelations. Here again came 
to me the lifting up. God in His love shone over all, and I 
lifted my voice as one among the many present, in praise for 
His untold mercies, and I thanked Him for the strength which 
had led me to labor faithfully, and use well the talent He had 
given unto me. A greater light came as my soul communed, 
and my faculties all ablaze with light, found in all God's works 
a wisdom mighty, grand, and great. Through harmony of body 
and spirit my soul had bloomed into perfect manhood, and a 
feeling of gratitude overwhelmed it and lifted me up nearer to 
the great Spirit of all, and with my arms entwined around my 
mother I praised God for the perfect part which from her I in- 
herited, and which had aided me to lift myself still nearer unto 



Spirit^World. 221 

Him. The winds caught the joy of my soul, and all the world 
about me seemed moved with ecstatic bliss, and from out the 
palm grove we went into a luminous city, whose bright streets 
shone like bars of gold, and buildings of jasper rose high above 
us, forming avenues of light beyond human conception or spirit 
power to delineate through mortal form. 

"Around the city rivers like molten silver ran, and fair ships 
and gay boats moved upon the face of the stream, reflecting in 
perfect outline the white sails and bright-colored bows ; soft 
melodies sounded upon the air, from birds which dipped their 
gay plumage in its waters. Tall trees alive with bright-bloom- 
ing flowers grew alonf its banks, and the voices of happy chil- 
dren made perfect the scene. As I stood with my mother be- 
neath the archway of a snowy temple of crystal spar, my daugh- 
ters again approached me ; and it was my eldest, my beautiful 
child, who had suffered most when in the body, with her face 
all lighted up with holy love, bade me enter the mansion pre- 
pared for me in heaven. 

" And here, my dear friends of earth, I must leave you ; for 
my power is not yet sufficient to give to you even a shadow of 
the beauties of that home. The flowers of God bloom eternal, 
and the trees of life are perpetual. Communing angels from 
higher spheres visit where I dwell, and as their feet press the 
bloom-covered grass a new-born gladness fills our city. ; sweet 
happiness holds all in a sacred union of spiritual glories. God 
be with you all." 

From Rev. T. P. Davidson, who was the first preacher in 
this country, and at his death the oldest member of the Mem- 
phis Conference : 

" Bro. Watson : — I promised to tell you of my passing from 
the body, and my entrance into spirit-life in detail — will begin 
from the last visit you made me. I was breathing even then, it 
seemed to me, in an atmosphere which was partly of earth and 
partly of heaven ; so beautiful were the visions spread out be- 
fore me. Angels would come and go, bearing in their hands 



222 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

flowers and gems, which they told me were the products of the 
land to which I am hastening. Their faces were illumined by a 
bright light, that I felt in my soul was the reflection of the love 
of God toward me ; and that mine would beam with the same 
heavenly lustre, as soon as the river was crossed — which was 
bearing my little spirit-craft upon its glittering bosom. It was 
nearing the shore of time each moment ; often I could see 
the waves rise and obscure its approach ; but ever and anon 
they would float away, and leave the spirit-craft riding the 
waters of the stream, which John saw flowing from the throne 
of God. Well, it neared the shore of the earth-sphere, and as 
one falling asleep and dreaming of soije delightful vision, I 
passed out of my old body. When free, I was awakened by 
the angel oarsmen who were uncabling my bark and making 
ready for the shores of the summer-land. They sang, and the 
song was — 

" * She has landed many thousands, 
And can land as many more.' 

" I was listening to the strains, when a vision of such ecstatic 
beauty was spread out before me that I cried glory to God ; 
who made all these joys for me. ' What shall I render to Him 
for all His benefits toward me ? ' Then the choir of heavenly 
music bade me welcome to the mansion prepared for me. I 
was met by my friend and Bro. Moss, who told me he came 
as the special escort of my disembodied spirit, because he 
knew I would at once recognize him and know that I had 
passed from death unto life. Then my loved ones came around 
me, and calling me brother, welcomed me to their heavenly 
abode. They did not call me as you call kindred ties, but brother 
is the term or tie which unites all in the spirit-world. The an- 
gels of God are one great and grand brotherhood. 

" The spirit-world is beyond my language to describe, but I 
will tell you homes are here for all, with every beauty and 
joy for which the spirit is prepared. We meet in circles as 



Spirit- World. 223 

you do on -earth when you desire a happy reunion, but each 
have duties and work which engage them always. No inactivity 
here. God has a work for all, and that work is our chief de- 
light. Jesus Christ meant this when He said, ' I do the work of 
my Father.' ' My Father worketh hitherto and I work ; 
meaning He did as He was bidden of the Father. 

u I preached a life-time, and a long one too, but never under- 
stood the law of recompense; nor the fact that I was a spirit 
independent of the body, and must pay the spirit's debt with- 
out any assistance from any one, save the mighty power of 
God moving the grand machinery of law, by which all His 
creatures are governed, in the body and out of it. I will finish 
this subject before long; am compelled to quit now. 

" T. P. Davidson." 

" Bro. Watson : — I must finish my detailed account of the 
spirit's life, and what I saw when I entered the mansion pre- 
pared for me. A book was spread out before me, and all I 
had ever done amiss was written therein ; for which I at once 
understood I must atone, before I could reach the spirit's high 
and eternal abode. That eternal abode was to be the spirit's 
progress, for its progress will be eternal. We must make 
recompense for all misdeeds, but while we do that, those works 
that were done for the glory of God and good of our neighbor, 
stand to our credit. For them we receive reward, in pro- 
portion as we suffer for evil deeds. 

ct This book was not of ink and paper, as books are with you, 
but the memory. This stands forth, having upon its tablet 
every act and thought, which in the body is the building up of 
the spirit's condition, in the spirit- world. Oh, if the spirit in 
the body could comprehend this, how much that is done would 
be left undone, and good deeds would be the chief aim of life. 
By them, God is glorified, and the spirit made more like Him. 

" To give you a description of the spirit-world would be only 
to tell what you can not understand until you become disem- 



224 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

bodied. Spiritual things are not material, and can not be com- 
prehended by material minds ; or minds which are in constant 
contact with material things, receiving their impressions from 
them. This is why the disciples could not understand the 
spiritual meaning of the Master's teachings. They were mate- 
rial. When He told them of the leaven of which they must be- 
ware, their minds naturally reverted to the physical need, and 
bread was the idea they received. I will say that flowers, 
birds, streams, landscapes, and everything beautiful to the eye 
or delightful to the taste, exist here, and everything that in- 
vigorates the spirit, and that adds to its growth. It is de- 
veloped by receiving that bread which the Saviour said we should 
eat and never hunger, and by that water He said we should 
drink and never thirst. The influx of God's love and the 
spirit which comes from His own being, is that bread and 
water. 

u We rest from labor when the spirit needs rest, which it does, 
because the laws of spirit are not perfected, only as the law 
which controls the spirit's progression is fulfilled. We rise 
above the need of rest, just in proportion as we rise nearer 
God's perfection. I would write more, but could not give you 
any ideas that would increase your knowledge, for you can not 
know until you pass from the body, what the surroundings in 
spirit-life are, and how the spirit is adapted to them. 

" T. P. Davidson." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LAW OF RECOMPENSE. 

This is one of the most important lessons to be learned 
within the vast range of human knowledge. Very few, com- 
paratively, we think, have any just views of this great funda- 
mental principle in God's moral government. The popular 
teaching of the day in regard to it is one of the greatest 
errors of the age. We shall continue to lift our voice and use 
our pen as long as either can be used to warn those who come 
w T ithin our influence, that he that doeth wrong, as the Master 
said, must suffer for the wrong-doing. This is as certain and 
as inevitable as any law of our being. There is no way of 
avoiding the penalty of violated law, but by recompense in 
this world or in the other. Upon this, as much as any other 
point, does Spiritualism take issue with the creeds and dogmas 
of the day. If we are to attach importance to what we get 
from the spirit-world, we must consider this question forever 
settled. There are those who claim to have conferred upon 
them power to forgive sins. Others claim to be in the regular 
line of the Apostolic succession, while others claim to be of 
the elect number, all representing themselves to be called of 
God as was Aaron ; but unless their lives bear the scrutinizing 
eye of the ever-present God, they will have to suffer for wrongs 
doing on the other side of the river of life. 

We have been in communication with a number of preachers 
who lived and preached in this city in other years. They all bear 
to* (225) 



226 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

testimony to the truth of what we are writing. One, who filled 
the office of Station Preacher and Presiding Elder here, many- 
years ago, had told us that some who professed religion while 
he was their pastor, are now working out their salvation over 
there. We want to say to all, no matter what station you may 
fill in Church or State, depend on nothing but to do right. Ren- 
der to all their dues, love God and your fellow-man, and as 
Paul said, " Work out your own salvation." 

We believe in the law of recompense, and that whatever we 
sow in this life we reap in the other. That we make our 
heaven or hell by our good or bad deeds while on earth. 
When we leave it, the 'great law of affinity makes every one 
gravitate to his own place. We not only believe " that proba- 
tion ought to be carried into the other world," but that it is 
carried there. Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison, as 
a Methodist preacher said in a sermon in the First Methodist 
church in this city some years since, for the same purpose He 
preaches to sinners here. He said in His first Sermon on the 
Mount (verse 26), "Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no 
means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost far- 
thing." 

When that farthing is paid, by the law of recompense he may 
come out, is the only legitimate inference which can be drawn 
from what He said. 

We have had much experience, in our investigation of this 
subject, given by those who have passed over to the other life. 
There is universal agreement in regard to this matter, so far as 
we have ever learned it. At our home circle we had two 
Confederate soldiers come two evenings, seen distinctly and 
communicated freely, a part of which we give below as their 
experience. We have had a number of such cases, some of 
them far worse than they, come to us begging our prayers. 

Our work on the other side we expect will be to aid the un- 
fortunate ones, who have failed to have that purity which is 
necessary to happiness, to come up to a higher state by the uni- 



The Law of Recompense. 227 

versal law of progression. Hear what our stranger friends 
say for themselves on the subject : 

" Dear Sir : — We are drawn here to your circle by the 
pleasant and exhilarating atmosphere which surrounds, and the 
dear old reminiscences of by-gone days. I can not tell you 
to-night who I am. My name you know; but I come as one 
whom you have known and aided. I need your earnest prayer 
and help every way. We passed over when the struggle be- 
tween the two contending armies was severest. I know your 
kind, sympathetic nature too well to feel that you would turn 
a deaf ear to what I should say. You must pardon me. 
There are no wars nor tumults here to mar the happiness of 
us, but there is contention — just so far as to make us feel as 
though your medium would not yield to us. I know her. Your 
wife in spirit-life is with- you now. She has aided us to gain 
access to this channel of communication. We find from her 
actions that she doesn't know us. We are not situated as we 
expected, nor did I think we deserved as much happiness as I do 
now enjoy. We are never so desirous of intervening as when 
we see difficulties, and, now that I have to a great extent be- 
come more conversant, I find that I am congenial, with noble, 
good spirits, for the earth plane. The little children came at- 
tending me, and no one can sustain a tornado as well as 
children. They, however, have nothing to say, but to impart 
an influence upon me. 

" I must beg pardon for any intrusion which I have made. 
Good-night." 

" Mr. Watson : — You would not remember me and my com- 
rade if we were to tell you oar names. Among the great num- 
ber who were cared for during the war we were two of the number 
who were so kindly nursed and fed by you and family. We 
were two of the number who passed from our toilsome life in 
your city. We laid our weapons of warfare down, and, though 
we had no mother's gentle and loving hands to smooth our 



228 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

brows — no one to love us with a mother's love, no sister's gen- 
tle words of comfort — we had the tender caresses and kind 
attention from the dear good women of your family especially. 
We would not have come to you, but felt that we could not 
refrain from a ^delightful mission of returning to our old 
camping-ground and most naturally drawn to you, our dear 
friends. 

" We are never very far from your plane — for we must con- 
fess, with horror, that we are reaping the effects of a reckless, 
misspent life ; and we earnestly^ beg you, yes, implore you, to 
pray for us, for we desire a happier home than ours. We are 
miserable, we are among a class who seem to be very much 
like me, and we are forced to believe that like attracts like. 

" Will you, Dr. Watson, pray that we may be happier, and 
that we may attain to higher degrees of joy ? I ask this of 
you. You must not ask our names, for it is useless for you to 
know. 

Cc We were both buried in the burial-ground near your city — 
call it what you may — name was unknown to us — we presume 
it was c Elmwood ; ' where your Confederate soldiers were, we 
were most assuredly. 

" We were at the hospital, or what was termed hospital. 
We fear we have made you sad, but you must not feel sad, for 
you are doing us good in this part of our mission — heeding our 
admonitions and promising to pray for us. 

" Yes, we know we can. We have made but slow progress, 
but our spiritual senses are being enlightened, and now we feel 
that if we call for a cup of water we shall obtain it. 

" God bless you ! We go away feeling that our burdens have 
been lightened, and though we are heavy with guilt, that to a 
great degree has been removed by your kind and Christian 
sympathy you seem to have for us. We do not want to tres- 
pass upon your time, but if you could but know how much we 
have been relieved, you would rejoice with us. 

" Good-night Two Strangers." 



i 



The Law of Recompense. 229 

The following communication was addressed to a friend who 
was present, part of which is withheld, it being of a personal 
character : 

" Miserable and wretched are those who spent their mortal 
lives in transgressing the laws of God. Is there a hell ? you 
would ask. Oh ! well may you ask that question of those who 
are suffering its tormenting conditions. I have come through 
this medium, my friends, to ask you to help me. I came to this 
circle, because your souls aspire to higher conditions, and, in con- 
sequence, light from the higher spheres descends and makes the 
darkness which surrounds our undeveloped spirits less intense- 
Some spirits, because they can not approach those angelic 
beings who come to point them to the light, return to earth in 
search of those affinities which they enjoyed while in the body, 
and commune with them in regard to wicked purposes. This 
is why they make no progress upward. I come to those whose 
spirits are in harmony with the good and happy, and thus attract 
to my spirit those bright and pure beings, whose emanations 
will leave an aura about my dark spirit, which will make the 
way of progress plain, and guide me upward from sphere to 
sphere. 

" I would give my name, but there is only one of your cir- 
cle who knew me in the body, and to that one I care 
not to be known. That one thought me better than I knew 
myself to be. I was not honest in my professions, and hence 
the hypocrite's hell is mine. Oh ! pray for me. You need not 
know my name to do that. * * * ." 

" Now, Bro. Watson, it is my turn. How glad I am to see 
the ' silver lining' i.f the cloud which has so long overshadowed 
the truth of spirit-communion. The Church people begin to 
see it, too ; and the more they look at it, the broader and 
brighter will it appear, until the cloud will pass away, and the 
silver lining (by which I mean to symbolize the great light of 
truth) will guide them out of superstition and ceremony, as the> 



230 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

pillar of fire and cloud guided the Israelites out of the wilder- 
ness. I only come to let you know I am on hand whenever 
good is being done. I lived for a good while in the body, and 
it is my aim now. John Moss." 

I then asked what we should do to help unhappy spirits, to 
which was replied : 

" What have you always done for such spirits ? The laying 
aside of the body does not make them saints or devils. As you 
would help sinners in the body, help them out of the body. I 
am working to make them understand the atonement, so as to 
claim its benefits." 

Spirits, on leaving the body, take their position just where 
their lives have prepared them for. Many spirits feel their 
position lower than they expected, because they have made 
their calculations from ignorance of God's requirements — to 
place their hopes of being carried to heaven on the death and 
sufferings of Christ, when God made them to work out their 
own destiny by doing His will. God sent Christ to teach 
them His laws and requirements, so they might have the 
opportunity to make their heaven in spheres of joy. 

Heaven is a moral condition, and not a material plane of 
worship around the throne of a spirit- God. God is spiritual, 
and His creatures must be spiritual in their conceptions of Him. 
They must learn that Christ meant this when He said, " My 
Father and I are one." Christ claimed to be the Son only as 
the God-spirit made Him so. He meant this when He said, 
" All things are given to me of my Father." His power to 
perform miracles was given from God, and He found He could 
not perform them where a spirit of infidelity existed. He came 
to do His Father's will, and He did it in making man's salva- 
tion sure if he would obey the laws that God had sent Him to 
teach them. 

The entrance into the spheres is according to the laws of 
God, which are immutable and fixed. No spirit can change 



The Law of Recompense. 231 

those laws, but by obedience can take their position high or 
low, just as their obedience in a greater or less degree deter- 
mines. When death comes in the order of law pertaining to 
matter, the spirit seeks its affinities, let them be in the dark 
abode, or " outer darkness," as the Scriptures term it, or in 
spheres of light and love. 

Nothing prevents this association. Nothing can change the 
nature of the spirit affinity but a progressive desire. Man is 
made with feelings to make him good or bad — just in pro- 
portion as those impulses lead him to good or bad deeds. He 
can be spiritual by seeking that light which the Spirit of God 
brings to the soul in accordance with spirit laws. There are 
spirit laws as well as material laws. The spirit man is to spirit 
laws what the material man is to material laws. 

The spheres are like the stories of an immense building. In 
them is prepared a room for every son and daughter of Adam's 
race. The room is adapted to the desire of its occupant. If 
he desire a better, the way is accessible by spirit effort. No 
spirit is chained to the " bottomless pit," but is spiritually able 
to ascend if he obey the spirit laws. The mind is illumined by 
the God-spirit, and they feel there are greater heights and 
brighter joys in higher spheres. This knowledge causes them 
to pray for the Christ-light to shine upon their dark abode, and 
their prayers are borne by angel missionaries to the Christ- 
spirit sphere, which is all light and love. The light shines 
down through the way made bright by obedience to this spirit 
law, and makes the dark spirit rise one step toward heaven. 

The angels always do behold the face of their Father, be- 
cause His Spirit is over all the creatures He has made. His 
face is in all His works, both in the natural and spiritual world. 
He sends His angels to earth to bind up the broken heart, to 
feed the poor, heal the sick ; and to make their duties known, 
they impress you and other mediums to convert the world by 
explaining from the spirit teachings what God requires of His 
creatures. Their mission is to make men pure and Christ-like, 



232 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

by teaching them the truths preached by Christ in the cities 
and synagogues of the Jews, and in the temples of God, to the 
multitudes making Him their teacher, by following Him from 
place to place. 

" Ministering to those who shall be heirs of salvation," is the 
object of spirit manifestations. The mind of man will be pre- 
pared for these great phenomena more rapidly when the Spir- 
itual Church is organized. The laborers will be greatly 
increased, and mediums will be developed in all places for the 
purpose of manifesting the different phases of spirit commun- 
ion. The missionary work is needed to spread this great 
truth, and mediums must travel. The circles must not mo- 
nopolize. The spiritual doctrine must go into all the world. 
Every creature must learn that Christ's second coming is 
near. The earth is quaking, and the conflagration is 
making red the earth and heavens with spirit illumination. 
The great city of Babylon is beginning to tremble to its very 
foundation. Men are crying for rocks and mountains to fall 
upon them, to hide them from God, but there is no escape 
from the laws of spirit sight. This spirit power is being felt 
from pole to pole, and men are learning the truths of God. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
mystery's communications. 

From those given at our home circles, we are taught to erect 
our family altars with united hearts and minds, with praise and 
thanksgiving. He says : 

No. I. 

" In the absence of the preachers who generally control the 
medium, I will drop a few words by way of suggestion. 
The circle must be formed anew. Let the family all be pres- 
ent if possible. Conduct your sittings after the manner of 
religious service ; that is, let your hearts go up as one in prayer 
for the communion of saints, and let us see if we can not de- 
velop another phase of mediumship, or another medium. We 
must have something more in your family, for there is too much 
power to be lost to the world. 

" I am not one of the family band, nor a preacher, but will 
develop something right here if you will make conditions for 
me, as soon after supper as may be convenient. Engage for a 
short time in , singing ; then some one lead in prayer. None 
are to be excluded from this privilege if they desire to pray 
audibly. Seat yourselves around the table ; at least form a 
circle which will admit of all. Join hands to solemnly invoke 
the God of heaven to give power to the angel guides that they 
manifest to you in such a manner as will make you free from 
all doubt and skepticism, that angels do commune with mor- 
tals. Conditions brought about by minds acting in harmony 

(233) 



234 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

or agreeing as touching one thing is a mighty strength to spirit 
manifestations. 

" I minister to earth ones from the high circles of heaven 
can not come from those high and holy spheres, without mak- 
ing the sacrifice purity makes when coming in contact with im- 
pure. I come from the sphere where wisdom is God, and God 
is wisdom — God is love, and love is God. Must I come to 
earth, without benefiting fallen and degraded earth ones ? 
Fallen, because spiritually dead ; degraded, because spiritually 
blind. Can not see the slime and corruption that enwrap the 
soul, and hold it in chains of darkness. This is degrading to 
the divine spark, which burns in the human body, making it the 
earthly tabernacle. 

" I ask permission of your brother to call his attention to 
things of past days. By and* in them, he will recognize the con- 
trol of one, who first threw the light and knowledge into his mind 
and soul, that the world of spirit, and the world of matter, were 
separated only by conditions. That law was the order by which 
God, in manifold wisdom and goodness, visited His created in- 
telligences, in spirit or mortal form. He will know then who it 
is that desires a family Bethel, upon whose altar shall burn, 
night and morning, the sweet incense of love, praise, and 
thanksgiving to God, for all the benefits toward the objects of 
His creation. 

u I will not control until my request is granted, and condi- 
tions made for me. Then I will tell of the great glory that 
awaiteth the spirit made pure and spotless by the law of pro- 
gression." 

Next evening he wrote : 

i c We come, friends, from the celestial sphere, to bid you God- 
speed. You have the conditions to-night we have desired so 
long. Your hearts are in unison, and we can approach. Your 
spirits are being baptized with the holy unction, which makes 
your aspirations -ascend to the Holy Oracle, from whence comes 
every perfect and good gift, and bring wisdom and love that the 



Mystery's Communications. 235 

world struggling on in lights and shadows so much needs. Now, 
I must insist that you live so as to bring you nearer your angel 
guides, and they can come nearer to you, and make you realize 
in the inner man that God is supreme ; and breathes upon you 
in every zephyr that fans your fevered brows, when pressed with 
the ca*es and toils- of earth ; breathes upon you in every flower 
which blooms, and sheds its fragrance all around you ; breathes 
upon you in every ray of light and every shade of darkness. 

" This is what we call the religious phase of Spiritualism. No 
phenomena to excite the curious mind, but that holy feeling of 
sympathy, which draws spirits to earth, to elevate by their com- 
munion, and not to produce wonders, as Moses did, to break 
down the stubbornness of the Egyptian rulers. You need nothing 
of that kind, from your stand-point to-night. You are looking 
to the abode of spirits, to learn what their food and rest mean. 
It does not concern whether your table tips or not. You feel 
we are here, and that is enough to make our presence known. 

u God is God, and is everywhere. Think not that anything 
is hid from the all-seeing eye, which is continually beholding 
every atom of His creation. Every thought is heard by His ever- 
present ear. You can not escape His presence. 

" I come now to dedicate the family Bethel. Upon its altar 
place your offerings to-night, which must be pure hearts and 
pure lives. No other offering is acceptable to God and angels, 
who come from the higher spheres. If they come from lower 
spheres, which they do, they can not instruct you in the wis- 
dom of God. Be kind to all, no matter how low their position 
in spirit-life, for you have a work to do for them. They come 
oftentimes for your prayers and benefits. Turn them not away. 
' As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
them ; ' for they are of your brethren, and claim your sympathy 
and aid. 

" Now I go, but look for me always when harmony exists. 
I can not come amid discord. My mission will not adapt itself 
to inharmony, for in my sphere it is not known. Good-night." 



236 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

No. II. 

" l Watchman, tell us of the night/ As surely as the hands 
upon the dial-plate point to each succeeding hour, so surely do 
the indications of the times point to a mighty revolution and 
reformation in the Church and world generally. What meaneth 
the stir in the camp of orthodoxy ? What meaneth all the 
launching out of the human mind in search of knowledge, both 
in material and spiritual things ? Just as surely as the hands 
upon the dial- plate mark the divisions of time, just so surely is 
the time approaching, yea, now is, when a mighty power will 
be felt in the world, through the awakening of the human 
mind, to the knowledge of the great and mighty God, who con- 
trols all things. His manner of control is now being better 
understood, and will dispel all doubts as to His existence and 
infinite power. 

" Some minds are in the bonds of ignorance on this subject, 
and must be enlightened, before His mighty power will be dis- 
played, through the ministry of His angels ; for all must know 
Him. No one must know for another, but every one for him- 
self, and realize in the inner man his relation to the Almighty 
Father, and how his relation to Him moves the entire universe. 
Deep down in the bowels of the earth are the footprints of 
Deity. When these depths are explored He must be seen and 
honored. In the mighty orbit of God, where wheel innumera- 
ble worlds, His name must be honored and glorified. In the 
smallest atom of matter and in the wide domain of spirit, He 
must be recognized. God must be all in all in the minds and 
hearts of His creatures ; then the great car of spirit will move 
with such accelerated velocity as to draw within its mighty 
progress all the ends of the earth. 

" I do not come to talk of earthly things. It is spirit which 
sends me to the earth, and I come to deal with spirit. ' Ho, 
ye, every one that thirsteth/ you can drink and never thirst 
again. In my sphere no material thought or aspiration lives. 



Mystery's Communications. 237 

Above our sphere is the celestial realm, to which none but the 
angels of light have ever attained. From this sphere comes 
all the wisdom and knowledge which enable men to accomplish 
all those startling discoveries and make those wonderful dis- 
plays of wisdom which seem so akin to divine power. 

"Upon this subject I will communicate in future meetings, 
and show how spirit-power suggests and leads to certainties. 
Good-night. 

" Stranger, I will write, but, my friend, to you I am no 
stranger. When your Bethel has been sanctified by the over- 
shadowing of Cherubim and Seraphim, we will come and in- 
struct you in spiritual things, from spheres above your me- 
dium's control. Her control is wise and good, but not prepared 
to reveal the wisdom of higher realms." 

Rev. John Moss, who was the Presiding Elder of the Mem- 
phis District, and whose communications will appear, wrote 
about this time : 

"I want to say a word. I and all your preacher band will 
withdraw for a time from your family circle because of the con- 
trol who has recently taken charge. He is far above us, and 
will, if he can get entire control, give wonderful and wholesome 
doctrine, such as we are not prepared to teach." 

No. III. 

u Do I come with letters of commendation to Spiritual- 
ists from the realms of ineffable joy and bliss ? Nay, verily ; 
but I come to discover to them their shortcomings, and wherein 
they have perverted the holy revelation given to them, and 
have made it to serve the God of Mammon rather than glorify 
the great Master Builder, whose foundation-stone to the 
spiritual superstructure was laid in wisdom. No apprentice 
work of man's invention can add to, or take from, its strength 
or immovability. 

" I will now explain these prefatory remarks. The first 



238 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

thought in the minds of many investigators, is to discover 
foibles in what the 'world terms Christianity, or the Christian 
religion ; in order to make the Spiritualism they are willing to 
accept, adapt itself to their discordant and unspiritual natures 
and lives. Then they begin to rant about this and that idea, 
which antagonizes, as they conceive, with the Bible defects and 
discrepancies, circumscribed creeds, church dogmas, and the 
revolution which must take place in all these things, before men 
will see and accept the truth. They do not remember, that 
much they receive from spirits who have passed into the bound- 
less space of infinity, is as often unreliable as the thoughts given 
by mortals. They make to themselves gods as did the Jews, 
when they attach so much importance to the created, and forget 
that the kingdom of God is within their own souls. 

" When their spirits are in harmony with God's law, and their 
souls in strict obedience to the rules of life and conduct taught 
by Jesus Christ, they will energize themselves in adding to, 
rather than destroying, the good already accomplished by the 
church organizations of the present day. There is no reason 
for Spiritualists to desire an organization separate and apart 
from the Church ; but put their shoulders to the wheels of the 
mighty vehicle and help to remove the burdens that have sunk 
her so deep into the mire of ignorance and superstition. Yes, 
I say superstition, for in her ceremonies she worships an imagi- 
nary being and fails to comprehend the spirit which seeketh 
spirit worship, and will not, can not, by the laws of His infinite 
and divine being, receive worship offered in sacrifice to idols. 

" The Church religion, and scientific Spiritualism, are the ex- 
tremes. Christ, and the religion He established, by the power 
of God working in and through Him as the agent of man's sal- 
vation, must harmonize and build up a media through which 
God and angels, His delegated ambassadors, can enlighten 
humanity in regard to the great truths which uphold and con- 
tinue the vast and mighty creative power, that nature displays 
in all her grand and wonderful harmony. The visible is only 



Mystery's Communications. 239 

the little germ which expands and develops, through all the 
range of the invisible. 

" This little germ of God's own nature, that lives in and ex- 
pands every human soul, must be restored to Him when the 
mortal shall have put on immortality. He will by His own 
immutable and never-ending laws, bring it nearer to his own 
perfection. The nearer it approximates the great source from 
whence the little spark emanated, the greater difficulty will 
there be in its coming within the earth's orbit to communicate 
with its inhabitants. It is owing to this, that communications 
even from those in more exalted spheres are often mixed with 
error. The number of channels through which they come 
must of necessity make them unreliable ; for each one imparts 
to them its own peculiar characteristics. For this reason, every 
communication should be tested well. Spiritualists often make 
blunders in receiving that which is untrue in regard to Bible 
teachings. The Bible was written much in the same way that 
communications are received now : through mediums. The 
channels through which its teachings came, were varied and 
many ; each possessing a peculiar cast of mind, which imparted 
their several characteristics ; hence the obscure passages and 
discrepancies. These should cause no Spiritualist to ignore the 
Bible, for in it lies the manifest truth of spirit return. For this, 
if nothing more, it should be used as a weapon for the breaking 
down of all prejudice to the belief in the return of the departed, 
and the fact that communion with them was enjoyed and can 
be now. 

" Jesus Christ meant to show His disciples this truth, 
upon the mount of transfiguration, and did. Without that 
demonstration they would never have recognized Him in His 
spiritual body. He came to teach men the way of truth, and 
without the resurrection being demonstrated, so as to be under- 
stood by the material mind, it could not have had the effect it 
did, and the doctrine would not have been preached by His fol- 
lowers. The material, however, swallowed up the spiritual, 



240 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

and men began to run off after the material, as did the Jews 
when Aaron made a god of gold, to satisfy their murmurings 
and keep them together until Moses could teach them the law 
given by the Spirit, who made the mountain burn and tremble, 
with the power of God given unto him. 

" Paul taught the spiritual resurrection. He was shown by a 
great and powerful manifestation of spirit what the revelation 
of Jesus Christ meant; and taught its truth by reference to its 
natural laws, the manifest effects of which the people saw con- 
tinually. I want to write, first for the benefit of Spiritualists — 
strive to get the i beam ' out of their eyes, and then they will 
be prepared to enlighten and instruct, so that the world will 
receive. Then the common brotherhood which Spiritualism 
inculcates will be the religion of the world. I mean a spiritual 
Spiritualism, and not that which seeks its light and life from the 
material plane. ' Oh, ye blind guides,' let the inner man be 
your first concern, and then your lives will be such as to draw 
from the higher spheres those spirits more capable of uniting 
the discordant material and making one grand and beautiful har- 
mony, which will embrace all souls who worship God in spirit. 

" There is a solace in the knowledge of the presence of spirit 
friends, which the soul needs after being tossed and tried by 
the cares and trials of the day. When you meet around this 
little altar, consecrated to the worship of God, and feel that 
your souls are in sweet communion with Him, then it is that 
we are drawn to you by that law which makes spirits, in and out 
of the body, blend in blissful harmony, and realize that the veil 
between is almost uplifted and the beautiful world of spirit 
brought within mortal vision. Many who experience this 
sweet communion yearn for the joys that await them on the 
other side. Could they realize their spirit-home in all its 
beauty and ecstatic joy, they would weary of the changing and 
conflicting scenes and relations which constantly meet them on 
the mortal plane, and thereby be unfitted for the working out 
of the mission they must fulfill, according to the will of God. 



Mystery's Communications. 241 

" There is often too much desire to look beyond this mission, 
which causes the failure to meet its objects. Be patient, and 
work while it is day, for there is a night coming in the which 
your mortal toil will cease and the old casket lie down to rest. 
Then the un trammeled spirit will soar away upon the gales 
of heaven, and breathe the pure atmosphere of the Paradise of 
God, where no obnoxious or pestilential air can blight its 
beauty and freedom. The spheres above this paradise (for 
there are those where all material resemblances pass away) are 
bright with the light of God's own emanations. The light 
shines in one eternal day; and, oh! the joys that await the 
progressive spirit can never be told in mortal language. 

'' I could not describe angels and archangels, whose mission it 
is to instruct those below them in the laws of spirit progress, 
and to bring them up higher and higher. Their faces do al- 
ways behold the face of their Father, and in ' His presence is 
fullness of joy.' By His light they shine ; they reflect His 
image, because purity and holiness are the signs they wear. 

" I will now leave, and let some of your former controls talk 
with my old friend, who has so often listened to my teachings. 
No evil or false teachings shall come from me, if I can have 
such conditions as will enable me to control your brain. Be 
happy and cheerful, as it is possible for you to be, then the pres- 
sure which so often defeats my control will be uplifted, and I can 
write more w r hat the present state of Spiritualism in the world 
needs to make it a harmonizing religion, rather than to tear 
down that which has already been accomplished for good 
through other means." 

No. IV. 

" The subject of the spirit's final destiny is creating much spec- 
ulation in this, the time of spiritual revelations. Ministers who 
have never given the investigation of the modern phenomena 
their time and attention for an hour, appear very presumptuous 
to thinking and liberal minds, when they pronounced them all 
humbug — mental hallucination or odic force. They condemn 



242 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the same circumstances and manifestations that ushered in the 
Christianity which they boldly assert and preach. Their Chris- 
tianity has lost its vitality because of the departure from the 
faith in Jesus Christ to perform the works which He said should 
be the sign of God's approval and acknowledgment. They 
profess great faith in Christ, but at the same time doubt the 
power He conferred upon those He commissioned to preach 
His Gospel. 

" I am not an iconoclast, as many spirits are, who see from the 
sphere of varied and conflicting views. Those who were infidel 
in the body are infidel in the spirit-world, and ever will be, un- 
less by the aid of spiritual light they see their error, and cry, 
* Lord, Lord, open unto us.' The virgins who had no light 
made this appeal, and the Lord said, ' I know you not.' Be- 
cause they had no light they could not see their condition, and 
hence expected to be admitted without the necessary prepara- 
tion to fit them for entrance into the light of the marriage 
feast. This parable was given to illustrate the dark spirit, who 
fails to comprehend and seek God by the light he can have. 
The Master's promise will surely be realized by those who com- 
ply with the condition of that promise, 'They that seek shall find.' 

" I am coming to you for the purpose of harmonizing Spirit- 
ualism and Christian religion, as it is called. Christianity, in 
its primitive purity, ignored the very ceremonial display which 
to-day is the curse of the Church. Christianity inculcated the 
same principles which to-day spirits from the higher spheres are 
trying to teach mankind, as the basis upon which the noble 
superstructure was built, but that it has been undermined and 
rendered unsafe. Repairs must be made. To do this it is not 
necessary to tear it down and remove its rocky foundation, but 
only to remove the rotten timbers which have been worked in 
by attempts to displace those which the Great Architect in- 
structed to be used. They are falling by their own insufficiency 
to stand the storms and repeated gales of infidelity and materi- 
alism, which have swept, and are sweeping all over the world. 



Mystery's Communications. 243 

" This ceremonial Church before mentioned is the result of 
these attempts to improve upon or adapt the teachings of Jesus 
Christ to each generation, rather than to make them the chief 
study and practice of life. The foundation of the great archi- 
tecture stands firm, and Spiritualism, when disrobed of its pre- 
tended wisdom, will use the knowledge which God and angels 
have imparted to it, for the enlightenment of the world, and 
rescue fallen humanity from the darkness and superstition of 
the age. I say pretended wisdom, for the knowledge Spiritual- 
ists have received has been turned into a curse, rather than a 
blessing, to many souls, because they have lost sight of its spir- 
itual intent and become absorbed in its phenomena. 

" This is true of many Christians. They have missed the spir- 
itual intent or meaning of the Bible, and have made its teach- 
ings *to serve their own peculiar sect or creed. There is One 
that judgeth, who is greater than I or any created intelligence. 
He will make His law, which is taught in the Bible, to mani- 
fest His power and will, by mighty signs and wonders, until 
every tongue shall confess that God alone is mighty and pow- 
erful, and His kingdom shall be established upon earth. All 
other kingdoms shall fall because they are built upon the sand. 

" I do not come to manifest the pow T er of God in physical 
phenomena, but my mission is to the spirit man — to teach that 
the development of spirit is that which will make Spiritualism 
swallow up every other ism that has not the spirit worship of God 
to make it acceptable to Him. The church organizations have 
done much to convert mankind from the errors of sin and 
transgression, but they have drifted away from the knowledge 
of God — ' Cry aloud and spare not ' all who presume to differ 
with their creeds and fail to attend upon their ceremonies. 
There is a reason for all this difference and failure, and a pow- 
erful awakening of their people must come, or they will make 
hopeless wreck of the faith which Jesus Christ taught when He 
said, ' Believe me for the very works' sake.' His works were 
intended to show the Kingdom He came to establish. He did 



244 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

many mighty works to show to the unbelieving Jews the power 
He possessed when their faith was sufficient to bring the 
Father's recognition. 

" Think not, my orthodox friends, that Spiritualism and the 
communion with loved ones a myth. You can enjoy all the 
benefits they bring in your church organizations, and they will 
give the impetus you need to lift you out of the 'Slough 
of Despond" into which many of your people have sunk, be- 
cause of the want of knowledge as to the cause of the spiritual 
dearth in the Church, and its failure to meet the spirit's wants. 
Spiritualists, think not you are on the highway to peace and 
glory, when your souls are not reaching beyond the phenomena. 
These serve their purpose, but it is not these which bring you 
in harmony with God, and stamp you with His image. 

il Holy Ghost, Spirit of God ! baptize the Church as Thou 
didst on the day of Pentecost, and give her to understand what 
power it was that made them speak with tongues, and the man- 
ifestation of fire, which caused the disciples to realize the ful- 
fillment of the Master's promise. The sound as of a ' rushing 
mighty wind' was the electric force which produced the fiery 
development. 

" Holy Ghost, Spirit of God ! baptize the revelation which, in 
this materialistic age, Thou hast given to the world to make 
the ' wilderness to blossom as the rose,' that it may go forth 
1 conquering and to conquer,' until all flesh shall know that 
Thou art God, and that there is none other but Thee — that 
Thou wouldst have all men to be saved, and that Thy king- 
dom is an everlasting kingdom, and will stand though the hosts 
of hell seek to destroy. 

'' O God, help us to honor Thee this night, in all the teach- 
ings we may give to Thy earth children, seeking as they are, the 
light which comes from Thee -alone. 

" My friends, I do not wish to monopolize at these family 
meetings, but only to come each time, to direct your minds to 
the spiritual gain that awaits those who, from the moral sphere, 



Mystery's Communications. 245 

aspire to the spirit's development, and leave the phenomena to 
perform their legitimate work. I am glad to meet you ; and 
you may feel each day that my watchful care is over you, im- 
pressing you to good, and protecting you from harm. 

" I will not remain longer, for there are others who have come 
to tell you of their dark conditions, and desire you to help them 
by your prayers and communion." 

No. V. 

u There is much said, oftentimes, of good intentions, but words 
are hollow sounds, unless verified or demonstrated in good works. 

" Spiritualists, what are you doing, to manifest your faith in 
works? You prate about moral elevation, and doing unto 
others as ye would they should do unto you, but how many 
souls are you benefiting by hiding,, as you do, your Might un- 
der a bushel ' ? The fruits of your faith are manifested more 
in circle performances and testing the truth of phenomena, 
than expanding your souls by doing the works of your heavenly 
Father. If your religion is spiritual, then let the world see 
that it bears fruit of its own kind, for the c tree will be judged 
by its fruit.' 

" What good is being accomplished by all these wonderful 
marvels and manifestations ? you are often asked. Then you 
are dumb, for want of that to show which will convince the in- 
terrogator that God is being glorified and humanity made bet- 
ter. Your organizations, for the greater part, are failures, be- 
cause you do not meet for spiritual benefit ; but to talk of this 
and that fault in the ' teachings of theology,' and to show how 
the spirit-world is engaged combating ' old worn-out dogmas.' 
Spirits who come to benefit you, and harmonize with all that is 
good, no matter of what name or sect, do not teach, that the 
foundation-stone has any the less strength, but grandly upholds 
the noble superstructure, which Jesus Christ called the Church. 
'Upon this Rock will I build my Church.' 

" What that Rock was, is the important question to be solved. 



246 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

It was Jesus Christ himself. He was the power or instrument 
through which God manifested to the Jewish people that He 
was strength and power. Unto Him was given the Light, to 
enlighten the world ; and He communicated that Light, by doing 
good — giving demonstrable proof of all He claimed for the 
spirit dwelling in Him. God is Spirit. Jesus Christ was the 
incarnation of God. Hence He in that sense was God ; but 
not in the sense of many persons, or three persons in one, as 
you have learned from those who lost sight of the spiritual 
teachings of the Master, and multiplied gods, because of the 
misunderstanding of spiritual manifestations. He taught 
spiritual doctrine, but they to whom He preached had no con- 
ception of a trinity which did not have distinctness of form 
and manifest individuality ; -hence they believed Him God, as 
none other was visible. Three persons in one is an utter im- 
possibility, and can never be true, no matter how explained or 
believed. 

" The spirit in man is not a trinity ; but in its relation to the 
external nature or surroundings, it is threefold. The blade, 
the corn, then the full corn. The first is the manifestation of 
life ; the second, the character of life ; the last, perfection. In 
the sense of natural law, physical development ; but in a spir- 
itual sense, subject to that degree of perfection which eternal 
progress will expand or effect. These are points which spirits 
find difficult to make plain, since the force of educated minds 
reacts upon or repels the law which spirits are under. 

u We can not at any time abruptly force impressions into 
unwilling minds — minds whose unwillingness to accept the truth 
is founded upon tradition or false education. Hence, we have 
to sow in the morning, at night, and all times if haply some 
seed may germinate and find the light ; shooting up first the 
blade, then the perfect fruit. We have to overcome prejudice, 
just as Jesus restored sight to the blind man. The first ap- 
plication was not effectual, but as greater power was applied, 
more light was received. 



Mystery's Communications. 247 

" Now, be not discouraged if communications are defective. 
The time is coming when all obstacles to spirit communion 
will be removed and the two worlds be as one, worshiping and 
adoring the Great Power, who gave unto men the mediumistic 
gifts through which this communion is established. Then I 
would say to Spiritualists, be about your Father's business, and 
let the gifts given unto you glorify God, and make them not, as 
the ancient Jews did, to subserve wicked purposes. Bind on 
your sandals, and weary not until the whole world is traversed, 
and enlightened by the truth, which you have accepted by 
demonstrated facts. Let these facts serve as a stimulus to 
faith, but never let them satisfy you that you have nothing to do 
but believe them. A light that does not shine beyond a certain 
limit is no benefit to the dwellers in the darkness beyond. 

il The harbinger of the light promised those who ' sit in dark- 
ness,' is modern Spiritualism. The light will come through its 
teachings and philosophy, when those seeing it shall shed or 
bear it forth, not by phenomenal manifestations, but with souls 
burdened with love and charity. Let every man feel his broth- 
el's need, and as Jesus Christ had pity and compassion, so 
must we and you, my mortal friends. He was the example of 
charity, patience, and self-sacrifice. He wore a crown of 
thorns ; so must you, if you find that duty requires such suffering 
and mockery. He was moved with pity and love, when the 
disciples told Him ' she crieth after us,' and desired to put the 
woman to silence. So you must pity the cries of suffering hu- 
manity and relieve, notwithstanding they may be clothed in 
rags, and of repulsive, appearance. Remember in them, as 
well as you, is the divine spark which God breathed into 
man. * 

"Your religion must be such as to attract and cement the 
hearts of all men. Never say, I am better or wiser than you, 
but, ' come and let us reason together,' and see by the light of 
divine truth, whether our religion is, or is not, in harmony with 
the Master's rule of life and action. If so, then yours must 



248 The Religion- of Spiritualism. 

fail; because the balance of truth will always ascend, while 
that of error must go down. 

" I said in the beginning of my control, that I would write 
first for the benefit of Spiritualists. Such has been my object 
in this and former articles. Some Spiritualists are too dog- 
matic to see that the churches have any good in them. This 
is because their eyes are blind to the truth, and their souls are 
too much filled with the tear-down idea, rather than to strengthen 
the weak parts of the grand old building, dinged and musty 
with the lapse of many ages, and darkened by the closing of 
the avenues of light. This has been done, by the watchmen 
on the tower crying that the age of miracles and spirit visitants 
passed away hundreds of years ago, and we live under a new 
dispensation. 

" Watchmen, you fail to discharge your duty, when the time- 
honored and God-baptized truth is not yet sounded to the 
world in tones of thunder. For it is this truth that will destroy 
materialism, and make the doctrine of the soul's immortality, 
which Spiritualism demonstrates, to rejoice the hearts of those 
hitherto wrapped in gloom and doubt. 

" Spiritualists, remember your duty, and follow in its line 
without murmuring or complaint. Though the world may 
frown and scoff, remember that your Master shared the same 
contempt, and made the kingdom He said was not of this 
world, to be realized in the spirit-man.' * 

No. W. . 

a O, Thou great and ever-present Spirit, baptize Thy children, 
both spirit and mortal, while we commune together and wor- 
ship Thee from the inner sanctuary of our souls. Give to me, 
Thy delegated minister, power to shed into their hearts and 
minds this night the light which will enable them to compre- 
hend Thee in all Thy wonderful majesty and power. Help them 
to realize the impossibility of mortals to comprehend infinity, 
only as they accept God as their Father and Preserver ; and as 



Mystery's Communications. 249 

Thou dost command, they must obey without questioning the 
power which commands obedience. 

" My friends, you were discussing the ideas you have of God, 
or, rather, giving expression to the views you entertain of the 
Divine Being who created the worlds that roll in space, and 
every atom of matter, from the grain of sand upon the sea- 
shore to the highest archangel that 'He sends to superintend or 
direct the mighty machinery of His works. You must not 
speculate as to who or what God is, for you can not compre- 
hend the Spirit which fills immensity, but you can comprehend 
individuality. Hence, *God in Christ reconciling the world is 
just what you can understand. 

" Christ was the form that God gave to the Spirit which was 
to manifest Him to the woild. Christ, the principle of all good- 
ness, mercy, and love, was poured upon the son of Mary, mak- 
ing Him the Son of God, spiritually. In Him dwelt the God- 
head in that form which could manifest to the mortal under- 
standing the idea of God. To Him the disciples could ap- 
proach and learn in language adapted to their understandings 
what the God they must worship required to make them the sons 
of God, as He was. 

" They did not, however, fully comprehend the relationship, 
and He addressed them in parable : ' I am the vine and ye are 
the branches,' in Me the life-principle exists. From Me you 
must draw all that will make you wise unto salvation. If you 
abide in Me, and I in yoUy then are we one. The Father 
abides in Me and I in Him : showing definitely what the re- 
lationship was. 

u The Spirit of God was in Jesus Christ. From Him they 
were to learn those rules of action, and that holiness of life, 
which would make them ' joint heirs' with Him, when they, by 
strict obedience, could claim the relationship. 

" Friends, it was not my purpose to control after the invoca- 
tion, but your conversation, to which I was a listener, prompted 
what I have written. Good-night." 
1 1* 



250 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

No. VII. 

" My friends, I wish to give you some instruction on the 
point which seems to puzzle. It is in reference to the giving 
of names when communications come. I know the anxiety 
you feel, and in that anxiety you lose sight of the real design 
of spirit communion. It fe not to merely give tests of iden- 
tity, but to teach you to separate truth from that which is 
false. 

" To do this, we must strive first to elevate you to that plane 
of spirituality which will cause your souls to hunger for spirit- 
ual development, rather than the knowledge of the spirit's 
identity. Were names always given, you would at once con- 
clude your friends bearing those names were present, when 
often the control assumes them to excite a curious spirit, and 
thereby lead you from the idea of spiritual benefit, and leave 
you to wonder why your friends do not say something to relieve 
ail doubt, and rivet conviction upon the mind, that the truth of 
spirit communion is established beyond all controversy. 

" Spirits who thus assume names, often get them from your 
minds, and are not prepared to give positive proof of identity ; 
hence, you are still left to wonder and doubt. Never attach 
importance to names, but always maintain passivity, and let 
the medium of any phase who may be controlled, feel that you 
are not curious, but anxiously seeking for light ; and whether 
it comes at one sitting or requires .more, 'that you are willing to 
wait, pray, and trust. God will give your angel friends 
power to satisfy you, just as soon as you are prepared to sepa- 
rate the chaff from the wheat. Much infidelity has crept into 
the minds of investigators by giving heed to seducing spirits. 
Vain philosophy has been another curse to Spiritualism. Be 
not led away by these things — l covet earnestly the best gifts,' 
and the more excellent way will be made plain by angel guides 
under God ; He giveth the power. 

" I do not wish to be heard on all occasions, but when I see 



Mystery's Communications. 251 

your minds in the wilderness of doubt, and that your curiosity 
rises above your desire for spiritual benefit, then I fly from my 
high and glorified condition, take upon my spirit that form of 
mortality which enables me to draw near and lead you out into 
green pastures, and by streams of pure and living water, that 
your hunger and thirst may be for spiritual good, and not to 
gratify a curiosity which belongs to the material plane. 

" There are many who, when they know others desire to look 
into their personal, private matters, will not give an item of in- ■ 
formation. This is well, for idle curiosity should never be grati- 
fied. Spirits, you must bear in mind, feel, when disrobed of 
mortality, all their peculiar characteristics ; hence, they refuse 
to give names, often from the utter indisposition to satisfy that 
which should not concern those seeking the higher life. 

<f From the battlements of heaven spirits are beholding the 
turmoil and clamor which the world in suffering in this, the 
most distracted and wonderful age ever known to mankind. 
What meanetli all this distraction and commotion in the world ? 
is the question that is agitating all thinking minds. The ques- 
tion is unanswerable from the mortal plane, but we who are 
disrobed of mortality, and see with spirit eyes, wonder why 
man does not seek the solution from the only source of knowl. 
edge. But, men will not learn of us, through our only means 
of instructing ; hence, we can not impart to them the knowl- 
edge which would make them understood why the scientific, 
religious, and intellectual world is in commotion. 

" Through this medium I can find access to many minds 
and hearts ; so I come, and, not without imperfectness, hurried, 
ly give to the world some thoughts or points for its considera- 
tion There is much I could tell, because of my spirit being 
commissioned to bear tidings, of weal or woe, to the children of 
earth. But they will not heed admonitions until the brakes are 
put down, so as to change the train of thought, and let it 
switch off in *the right direction. It is to do this that I 
have written articles addressed principally to Spiritualists ; 



252 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

for to them the trust is committed, as it was to the ancient 
Jews. 

" When the ark moved, then all was well ; but when it stood 
still, they knew something was wrong. When this discovery 
was made, they would live so as to remove the obstacle, and 
the ark would move again. Spiritualists, the ark is standing 
still measurably now, because you are not consulting the Urim 
of your souls upon which is written the cause of the stagnation. 
Your mediums are being detected in fraud, and why? Be- 
cause you are not praying, and thus surrounding them with the 
power or influences which come through prayer and consecra- 
ted souls. Such influences protect them from those evil spirits 
who come to earth, impressing and working to gratify the same 
passions that in earth-life prevented them from seeking God, 
and inquiring of Him the way of peace and salvation. The evil 
obsessions of mediums now are just those influences which 
Jesus Christ, by His holiness and wonderfully God-given power, 
cast out. 

" You must look to the inner man, and see why all this is so ; 
what it is in you that prevents the Spirit of God from entering 
in, and there abiding. To produce fruit of such a character as 
will induce the world to believe you are full of the Spirit 
of God, should be the one great object of life, so far as pro- 
claiming the truth to others which you so fully accept yourselves 
is concerned. The chief concern of life should be to keep 
your own souls in that state of spiritual fertility which will not 
require so much spasmodic labor to remove the thorns and 
thisdes which choke the growth of the good seed sown by angel 
hands. 

" I love to talk to mortal pilgrims about heaven, and the 
joys which angels are ever ready to bestow, when directed by 
the Great Dispenser of all blessings. I love to tell them that 
their sufferings and sacrifices will,* if made and endured 
patiently, and in the Spirit of the Master, work ♦out for them a 
bright and happy entrance into immortality, and be as the 



Mystery's Communications. 253 

diamonds which sparkle in the sunlight of glory. Now, my 
mortal friends will be ready to ask while reading of diamonds, 
if they exist in the spirit-world. I answer, yes ; but not perisha- 
ble ones, like those you would toil a life-time to possess ; and, 
it may be, leave the long-desired treasure to the enjoyment of 
others, and thus ruin your soul and theirs in the dark sphere 
from which the rich man gazed upon the glorified and peaceful 
spirit of the earth-beggar. In tones of deep contrition and 
misery, he cried for one drop of water to be administered by 
the hand of him who lay at the gate hungry and wretched, 
while he (the rich man) grasped the glittering baubles that 
made his spirit-abode so dark. There is no truth which stamps 
itself more clearly upon the human consciousness, than that 
every sin and transgression- shall, by the law of recompense, re- 
ceive its reward in kind. That is, every sin sown shall reap a 
harvest of sin. God teaches this in all His works, natural, 
spiritual, and moral. He is just, and will mete or measure to 
each soul according to its merit. 

" Faith in His justice and mercy does not relieve the trans- 
gressor from sins committed. They must be blotted out by 
suffering the penalty which is affixed to every sin, according 
to its greater or less magnitude. This is a subject of vast im- 
portance to mortals, and should be prayerfully studied, and 
made to control every thought and action of life. For, as 
surely as God rules and reigns, not one 'jot or tittle of His law 
shall pass till all be fulfilled.' 

" Spiritualists are arousing from their lethargic dreaming and 
putting on the armor of God. It is thus they must be pano- 
plied for the war of aggression. They must be aggressive, or 
their conquests will not endure. They must first conquer the 
enemy within their own territory ; which is love for the wonder- 
ful phenomena, to which undue importance is attached. Whilst 
they have their part in the glorious plan of man's release from 
mental and spiritual thralldom, they constitute a very small part 
Of themselves, they bring no enduring comfort to the soul. 



254 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

** Spiritualists who become absorbed in phenomena, regard 
the Church as an enemy to Spiritualism. Be not provoked, 
my friends, if Church people question the truth of your 
philosophy. Light is the element needed, and they have a 
right to question the source from which it emanates, before 
being guided by it. The ignis fatuus light is not reliable. Be- 
fore the traveler has clearly seen his way, it is gone, and the 
darkness rendered more intense on acount of its appearance. 
Such is often the case when the phenomena of Spiritualism are 
made the test of spirit communion. They lead the investigator 
into the wilderness, and he is lost from following the uncertain, 
light they give. 

" I know there is antagonism between the spiritual philoso- 
phy and Church doctrines, as they have both understood 
Bible teachings, which lie at the foundation of all spiritual 
phenomena, as well as all Church theology. There are roads 
which diverge for a time, notwithstanding they eventually lead 
to the same destination. Thus it has been with the Church 
and Spiritualism. But the roads are coming nearer together 
now, and as the traveler advances he will find them still approxi- 
mating, until they unite in one plain, unmistakable route, 
which will be marked by angel guides, so that future pilgrims 
will have no difficulty in finding the way. Truth will light up 
the wilderness and marshy low-grounds through which millions 
have wandered, and often amid darkness and gloom, felt that 
God had given them over to the tempter, and withdrawn His 
Holy Spirit from them. 

" We in spirit-life are rejoicing over the signs which indicate 
the return of the prodigal to his father's house, where there is 
enough and to spare of the bread of life ; where the soul can 
feast upon heavenly manna, each day and hour ; where no 
spiritual hunger and thirst are felt, and where the ' Sun of 
righteousness' is ever shining upon the weary and worn pil- 
grim of earth, as he toils on amid the trials and ills consequent 
upon mortality. 



Mystery's Communications. 255 

a A few more exposures of fraudulent mediums and Spiritual- 
ists will learn how to draw the line between true and false phe- 
nomena ; and will discover what is required to draw to their 
support that character of spirits who will manifest first to the 
spirit man, and elevate the soul to that degree of holiness 
necessary to commune with angels. Mediums may make con- 
ditions, and induce the curious mind to investigate, only to be 
detected in fraud, and to bring the blush of shame to their 
cheeks, and melancholy depression to their souls. Such will 
ever be the fate of false manifestations. But when mediums are 
educated by spiritualized Spiritualists, to know the wickedness 
of such things, rather than to indorse their frauds by credulous 
acceptance, they will cease to dishonor their holy calling, and 
become the vessels of honor God intends them to be, by the 
influences which He sends His angels to impart. 

" I intimated in the beginning that the Church was not in 
reality an enemy to Spiritualism. Her opposition comes from 
a misunderstanding of spiritual doctrine. Spiritualists are to 
blame for much of the Church antagonism, because they have 
not elevated the Spiritualism they claim to accept, to that plane 
which would render it attractive to those who have been edu- 
cated to a faith that says, ' You must not think, for others more 
capable are thinking for you.' It now remains for Spiritualists 
to offer to them a faith not blind, but illuminated by angels, 
who come to tell of the spirit's life in the home the Saviour 
entered to make the way plain by the Spirit of Truth, which He 
said would come to be their guide and comforter. Spiritualists 
have debarred many Church members from entering their com- 
munion because they have not studied the right means of mak- 
ing disciples ; but have, by their enthusiastic zeal, tried to up- 
root forcibly, and in the spirit of contempt, the grand old tree 
that has stood the lightning's shock for ages, rather than to 
prune it up by gentle strokes ; lopping off here and there the 
decayed branches, and thereby rendering the trunk more capa- 
ble of nourishing the green and living ones. 



256 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" Your religion ir, not death ; but life and immortality brought 
to light, after long struggling in the darkness created by a mis- 
understanding of the truth which flashes from the Bible when 
spiritually read, or when the spirit of its teachings, and not the 
letter, is made the rule of life and conduct. 

" As the superstitious and benighted Ephesians would receive 
nothing which detracted from the power and worship of their 
goddess Diana, so the Church ignorantly worships her creeds 
and ceremonies, because she has been taught that in them is 
life and light ; and anything which antagonizes is in opposition 
to Heaven's laws, and must be condemned without a trial. 

" I said in the beginning that Spiritualists must be aggres- 
sive — war must be made first, against the enemy in your own 
territory. So amongst yourselves begin the fight, for your 
worst enemy is the want of spirituality in your own ranks. 
Cast out the devil that offers you the forbidden fruit. For I 
tell you, and wish I could make the words to sink deep down 
into } our souls, that God desires not to be worshiped through 
phenomena. Only in spirit worship can you commune with 
Him, and find peace to your souls," 

No. VIII. 

" I thank Thee, O, Father ! for this another opportunity 
of communing with these, Thy faithful followers. They come 
to this holy place to seek light from Thee, and Thou, in good- 
ness and mercy, hast sent me to tell them Thou art forever, and 
forever, God. And none of Thy children are turned from 
the fountain of light and knowledge- who come seeking with 
pure and honest hearts. O Thou Holy Spirit ! the essence 
and power of God ; which is manifested in all the works of Thy 
hands, let us, while we commune with these Thy children, seek- 
ing for the truth, be filled with Thy power, and enable us to 
make such revealments as will make them seek those higher 
conditions that will bring them nearer Thy angel messengers, 



Mystery's Communications. 257 

and through the light given to them, draw nearer to Thee, O 
God. Amen. 

" The 'Stream which makes glad the Gity of God' is to 
quench your thirst. ' The Tree of Life ' is to satisfy your hun- 
ger. Its 'leaves are for the healing of the nations/ These 
leaves are presented to you daily by the angel hands which are 
ever outstretched for your deliverance. The fruits which the 
apostle saw, and called ' twelve manner of fruits,' are pre- 
sented to you daily by angel missionaries, who come to en- 
lighten and feed starving humanity. These figures of speech 
were impressed upon the mind of the apostle, to give him the 
knowledge that the children of earth were fed and feasted upon 
heavenly things by spirits sent from God. The apostle thought 
the angel was God, so like Him was he in spiritual brightness 
and perfection. He had never had his spiritual vision opened 
before to the perfection and beauty of departed ones, whose 
earth-lives had fitted them for entrance into high and holy con- 
ditions. Hence, he believed the spirit who came and showed 
to him so much glory, must be the author of all things in earth 
and heaven. 

" The spirit felt that the Giver of all these blessings must be 
worshiped, and not His glorified ones. To make the apostle 
understand that earth's children did rise nearer and nearer to 
God's perfection, He told him who He was, and thus gave the 
first tangible proof of the return of spirits, since the. trans- 
figuration scene. 

-' The angel who appeared to Peter did not tell he was a de- 
parted spirit from the earth, hence Peter did not understand 
the whole of his mission, a part of which was to teach the soul's 
immortality in another state of being. Peter preached immor- 
tality without tangible evidence, just as ministers of the pres- 
ent day do. He was guided by spirit intelligence, in making 
declarations which gave him precedence, whenever the occasion 
demanded prompt and decisive action. Ministers are often 
misled in regard to what they should speak, because spirit 



258 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

utterances are stifled by asserting their own individuality ; or 
rather giving heed to educational discipline, while the spirit im- 
pressing and bearing testimony with their own, answers no, and 
burnishes the truth with spiritual light. 

u Oh, how long will the heralds of Gospel truth wear the 
yoke of creedal bondage ? when every day brings new light, 
which makes the enlightened soul of man cry, 6 Light, more 
light.' " 



CHAPTER XX. 

REV. JOHN MOSS, LATE PRESIDING ELDER OF THE 
MEMPHIS DISTRICT. 

The communications we give below need some explanation 
to a proper understanding of them. In 1872 he was the Pre- 
siding Elder of the Memphis District. When we presented 
him with a copy of " Clock Struck One," in the Christian Ad- 
vocate office, in the presence of a number of preachers, he 
said with emphasis, " I would not believe that spirits returned 
to earth and communicated with mortals if God himself were 
to tell me." 

He had been on this District as Presiding Elder three years 
afterward, and frequently stayed with us while attending his quar- 
terly meetings. He passed over to the spirit land, and a large 
concourse of people attended the memorial service at the Cen- 
tral Methodist church near us. The meeting was protracted 
during the ensuing week and our home medium attended. On 
her return one night Mrs. Hawks was under control in our 
library. Soon as she was seated near the door the spirit an- 
nounced that Mr. Moss was with her and would communicate 
with us soon. He said he was much interested in the meeting, 
but had not seen God or Jesus. 

During our absence he communicated the following. At our 
regular family meeting he wrote the second communication : 

" The gospel of the new dispensation is peace and joy in 
the inner man. This peace is the result of that clear and con- 
scious indwelling of the Spirit of God which restores the image 
to the Divine and makes the human organism the temple of 

(259) 



260 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

His mighty presence. Spiritual life and energy never resulted 
from a quiet and inactive faith. ■ He that doeth the will of my 
Father, the same is he that loveth me.' 

" No man dieth to himself; neither can any man live to him- 
self and love God in the spiritual sense which Jesus intended 
to instill into the soul of man. I say work. I believed in 
work while in the body. As an evidence I practically made 
the religion I preached my rule of action. Work your way 
where faith directs. No faith was ever made perfect without 
the exercise of the mental faculty being demonstrated by the 
outward sign. 

" I am going to Conference and take my place in the cabinet. 
They will not hear my voice as in other days, but my influence 
will be felt by those who have the appointing power. They will 
make some changes which may not be the best for the people, 
still the law of the Church will prevail. I am with my preach- 
ers just what I was in the body, but they heed not the impres- 
sions I make because they are willfully blind to the subject of 
spirit intercourse as I was. I am learning the ways of God to 
man, according to the Spiritualistic belief, to be true in many 
respects, but they must learn, too, to leave behind much of the 
rubbish they have gathered up in their haste to grasp the jewels 
lying beneath. 

" The spiritual theory in regard to the spirit's destiny, when 
separated from the body, is true. Spirits good and bad breathe 
the same atmosphere in the spirit world. To the evil it is evil, 
and to the good it is good. God is God over all His works, 
and makes the laws He has unchangeably fixed, to praise and 
glorify Him by thei-r harmonious action and results. Evil and 
good are opposites ; but evil produces evil, and good produces 
good ; hence, I say the laws of God are harmonious in their 
action and results. • 

" I will come soon and tell you at your home circle what I 
have learned in the spirit-world, and how my knowledge differs 
from my earthly faith and teachings. John -Moss." 



Rev. John Moss. 261 



No. II. 



" Well, Brother Watson, I have come to take all back 1 ever 
said that was offensive to you in regard to the subject 
which has so long been the idol of your life and honest en- 
deavors. You were right and I was wrong, when I uttered the 
blasphemous expression that I would not believe spirits re- 
turned to earth and communicated with mortals if God him- 
self were to tell me. Now, my brother, I have to atone for 
that shortcoming, for the reason that the law of recompense is 
inevitable, and must have its penalty served, before the trans- 
gressor can attain to the joys of heaven prepared for those who 
are prepared for them, by the laws of the spirit's own being. 

u I was present when all the sorrowing ones were assembled 
in Central church, to do honor to my memory. While I 
appreciated their respect and love, I could have told them 
those emblems of mourning did not truthfully represent the 
condition of the subject — that he was not dead, but one of 
their assembly, thinking how the world and the Church mis- 
understand the subject of death. ■ No death' has often been 
sounded from the ramparts of the spirit-world, and truly there 
is none. The testimony which Jesus gave when He arose 
from the dead and became the firstfruits of the resurrection, 
brought to life and liberty the prisoner who had so long 
been groping in darkness in regard to the nature of His 
mission, and what that mission established— life and immor- 
tality beyond the grave. 

" My entrance into spirit-life was just as bright as I ever 
imagined it would be if I, from an honest faith and life, kept 
the commandments of my Master. I, however, did not find a 
stone-built city, with golden streets and pearly gates, and the 
throne of God in the midst of that city, but I did find the 
* forty and four thousand' praising God who had given them 
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I see the time 
coming, from the signs prevalent, when the Church will throw 



262 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

off the shackles which have so long bound her advocates, and 
let them enjoy more liberty of faith and speech. When that is 
done her ministers will preach more with the spirit and under- 
standing, will be better prepared to instruct those who hear in 
the ' mystery of godliness/ and bring to the surface the light 
which has so long been obscured by the darkness of supersti- 
tion, and, I may add, heresy. The Church is more heretical? 
as I now understand the term, than the ' spirits of just men 
made perfect ' teach. I will go now, but am coming again. I 
know your anxiety to hear what I have to say, for you consid- 
ered me a hard case, and true I was. My will was not to be- 
lieve what I considered false doctrine and faith ; hence, I could 
not receive the light that might otherwise have dawned upon 
my mind and made me to have understood the ' faith once de- 
livered to the saints ' as I now do. Good-night. 

" John Moss." 

No. III. 

" Mark well the communication I make this morning. It 
is my purpose to reveal knowledge, which in earth-life I would 
have spurned as the offspring of the devil. Because I then 
believed him to be a personal intelligence, capable of trans- 
forming himself into an angel of light, for the purpose of de- 
ceiving men and teaching them to forsake God and to ridicule 
the divinity of the immaculate Son of God. 

" From these ideas and teachings the world has run into dis- 
torted and untruthful conceptions of the whole plan of redemp- 
tion, and the means which God employs to effect His provi- 
dential care and merciful regeneration of His creatures through 
these means. I do not come to publish to the world any new 
system of God's regenerating power ; nor do I come to state 
that the old process of getting to heaven has given place to an 
easier and better way. But I do come to tell those laboring to 
' see through a glass darkly,' that the darkness should, by 
the reflection from heaven, be made clear, and no longer be 



Rev. John Moss. . 263 

the uncertain medium of transmitting the light of the knowl- 
edge of God. He sends His ministers as flames of fire, to 
purify and purge His creatures from superstition and spiritual 
darkness, and to bring them out into the marvelous light and 
liberty of the Christ of God. The Gospel of Christ will make 
you wise unto salvation, if it is made the * savor of life.' But 
to many it becomes the ' savor of death,' because of the obdu- 
rate and willful ignorance that keeps the heart from believing 
unto righteousness. 

" Many who read this communication will let their lips curl 
with scorn, and say, 'Well, Bro. Moss must have changed from 
the faith by which he entered heaven, if the views he now com- 
municates set forth his present status.' Will say, too, ' I don't 
believe that his spirit has left the high and blest estate into 
which he must have entered in spirit-life, if a useful and pious 
life here signifies anything or adds to the glory of spiritual en- 
joyment.' 

" It is to such that I particularly address myself in this com- 
munication. While in the form I preached faith. I attach the 
same importance to it now ; but not from the stand-point I 
preached, and that from which my brethren preach now. Faith 
is the lever power of the spirit-world, and brings all things into 
harmonious action. Faith is the motive power to every success 
in earth-life. Faith leads us to put forth all our energies to 
accomplish the mission committed to us. Faith induces you 
on the mortal plane to exercise all your powers, physical and 
mental, when you engage in any enterprise. Hence, the 
Saviour placed that mental faculty in the front and foreground 
of all His mighty demonstrations of power, and taught His fol- 
lowers the power of its active and confident exercise. 

" By faith he meant to say in the power which enables the 
exercise of man's reason, and shows him what God made him 
to do, and how he is to accomplish his mission. Faith that 
looks not to the good of humanity, but lies idly down and waits 
to be rewarded, merely because it exists, is a dead faith. Not 



264- The Religion of Spiritualism. 

even sufficient to prompt to one good act, and yet constant ; 
with an abiding trust that the sufferings and death endured by 
the precious Son of God will save them, although they may 
never give evidence that His life wrought for them any benefit. 
Blind guide ! into the ditch you lead, which will be too dark for 
the sunlight of God to penetrate, until your faith is as large as 
a grain of 'mustard seed/ which Jesus Christ said was sufficient 
to remove a mountain : meaning the power of an active faith 
to remove difficulties, which prevents the Christian from mani- 
festing it in words of benevolence and charity. The mustard 
seed to which the Saviour referred, notwithstanding its little- 
ness, germinated and grew so large as to afford shelter to the 
birds which came and lodged under its branches : a beautiful 
illustration of the faith which Jesus Christ intended to teach 
His followers, as that by which they were to enter the place He 
was going to prepare for them. 

" I have learned much about faith since I entered the spirit- 
world, that would have sounded like heresy had I heard it 
preached from our pulpits while I was in the form. I have 
learned much, too, on other points, which I intend to give 
through this medium, for the benefit of my brother preachers. 
I may drop a seed here and there, which will germinate by the 
warming influences of God's Holy Spirit, and the genial showers 
of His grace. I know the soil is hard and unyielding, never- 
theless the plowshares must be borne down by angel power, 
until it is made productive and fruitful. Such elements must 
be imparted as will root out those that have, by their noxious 
influences, rendered it barren and worthless. My object is only 
to touch upon vital points, which theologians have obscured 
by refusing to think outside their church tenets ; or by refusing 
to teach any other doctrine, think as they may. Some are 
thinking, and to a good purpose. The angel world is engaged 
in pressing thoughts into those minds who are not afraid of men, 
and will preach the Gospel of Christ as set forth in the close of 
His Sermon on the Mount. i He that heareth these sayings of 



Rev. John Moss. 265 

mine, and doeth them, I will liken unto the wise man/ etc. He 
did not say it was safe to hear and not do, but always urged work 
rather than faith, which is dead of itself. John Moss." 



No. IV. 

From a Memphian : 

" My dear friends, by permission of the spirit acting as con- 
ductor, I am here to-day, and with a strange sense of my own 
weakness, I attempt to communicate to you through a new and 
unfamiliar method. My duties while in the body gave me 
constant control of the pen, and I always found my brain act- 
ive and my hand ready to trace whatever my mind framed 
Not so now. I am at fault in every move, and the hand that 
wields the pen trembles and falls as if stricken with palsy. I 
find that I need to be guided and directed as a child while un- 
der the discipline of the instructor. I am still of earth ; the 
attractions of life bind me to the old associates, and I can not 
disabuse myself of many things which troubled my mind during 
the last years of my existence. I cling with strong tenacity of 
feeling to all that were familiar to me when I walked as a man 
among men, and a constant desire to participate in the matters 
of life clings to me. 

" I hear a voice ! It bids me seek beyond the outer portal, 
and the power to see will come, and with that power a knowl- 
edge of the way which leads from earth. 

" This is the first voice that has sounded from beyond the 
earth element, and with God's help I will strive to seek. 

" I am personally known to many of you who will peruse the 
words I now frame through the life of another being \ but the 
same reason which led me to keep my name silent in many of 
my published articles, renders me silent now. I am traversing 
through a new life, with a new body, but the man remains in- 
tact. I am the same, identically and individually, as when 1 
walked your streets. No change, only in the material sub- 
12 



266 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

stance. The form which to my friends represented myself, is 
under the ground, while the individual man, the acting or pro- 
pelling power of what you term man, moves, acts, and thinks as 
when moving visibly in your midst, and finds every wrong of 
life acting as a retarding element against his advancement on 
the road which leads to happiness. To explain to you : Have 
you noticed, when a sudden fog comes up and covers the land, 
how strangely dim and undefined everything appears ? It is 
so with me. At my death I found a quick release from pain ; 
then there arose from a distance a fog which completely envel- 
oped me, and left all the surroundings undefined and misty. 
This, I soon learned, was my own condition, and the mist that 
enveloped me emanated from my own soul, and that I myself 
must lift the film from my eyes. I have striven to see clearer, 
and I find much of the mist decreasing ; but this constant de- 
sire for earth and earth matters keeps me still within the old 
sphere. I must make matters straight which I left unsettled, 
and place those who are dear to me in more happy circum- 
stances, before I can realize that perfect change which brings 
to the soul complete happiness. 

" This is my first attempt to make anything public in regard 
to my position, and I hope my friends will excuse me if I 
withhold my name. Yours for the truth, ." 

" Now, Brother Watson, it is my turn. How glad I am to 
see the ' silver lining ' of the cloud which has so long over- 
shadowed the truth of spirit communion. The Church people 
begin to see it, too ; and the more they look at it, the broader 
and brighter will it appear, until the cloud will pass away, and 
the silver lining (by which I mean to symbolize the great light 
of truth) will guide them out of superstition and ceremony, as 
the pillar of fire and cloud guided the Israelites out of the wiL 
derness. I only come to let you know I am on hand, whenever 
good is being done. I lived for a good while in the body, and 
it is my aim now. John Moss." 



Rev. John Manly. 267 

I then asked what we should do to help unhappy spirits, to 
which was replied : 

" What have you always done for such spirits ? The laying 
aside of the body does not make them saints or devils. As 
you would help sinners in the body, help them out of the body. 
I am working to make them understand the atonement, so as 
to claim its benefits." 

From Rev. John Manly : 

" Jesus said to His disciples, ' I go away that the Comforter 
may come.' The disciples did not understand this to mean, as 
it did, the baptism from the Christ heavens, which was both 
seen and felt on the day of Pentecost. The Christ heavens, 
"where Christ dwells, and from which descends all spiritual bap- 
tisms, is the Holy of Holies into which the spirit enters when it 
has been purified from the faults and blemishes the sins of earth- 
life leave upon it. This is done by the laws which God or- 
dained for the soul's progression. The Holy Ghost is the 
Spirit of God as it comes from the Christ heavens upon the 
spirit-man when he lives in communion with his God and Cre- 
ator. The spiritual baptism came upon the praying Jews be- 
cause their souls by prayer were harmonized into that state of 
spiritual unity which Jesus said should bring the result desired, 
or blessings asked for. When the soul is longing and seeking 
for God then comes the spiritual baptism. 

" The spirit manifestations of the present day are the means 
by which God intends to convert the world, when spirits so 
understand the laws of spirit as to enable them to manifest 
to earth ones in that way and manner which will add most 
rapidly to the success of Christ's kingdom on earth. This 
kingdom is within you, and when this is realized the spirit is 
continually baptized with that baptism which designated Jesus 
Christ as the Son of God. His spirit was in harmony with His 
Father, because He felt the baptism which comes from the Spirit 
of all spirits. 



268 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

u God's plan of government is in delegated authority. Spirits 
come and testify the way of salvation, by explaining to you the 
spiritual condition of those passed from earth. By doing this 
you see the spiritual meaning of Christ's teachings. In these 
manifestations you see just what He said would follow faith in 
His Word. The effect of spiritual development is to bring 
your spirit in harmony with the plan of salvation, and enable 
you to comprehend the spiritual part of your being. When you 
comprehend how the spiritual baptism comes, then you will so 
live as to receive it through the natural channel which God cre- 
ated for the display of His goodness and care for His creatures. 

" When the spirit lives in harmony with the teachings of 
Jesus the trials and gloom incident to earth-life are counter- 
acted by the constant spiritual baptism which is felt and real- 
ized in the spirit-man. When He was about to leave His disci- 
ples He said, ' Let not your hearts be troubled, the Comforter will 
come. Peace I leave with you. Peace I give unto you ; not as 
the world giveth, give I unto you.' His peace is only to be 
realized in the obedience which He suffered ; for God requires 
the sacrifice of the outward man that the ' inward man may be 
renewed day by day.' When the outward part is not purified 
from the pure fountain within, the spiritual baptism is not felt, 
and gloom and trials await the man in spirit. Make the foun- 
tain pure and all the streams which proceed from it will be 
pure. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good. 

"The teachings of Christ are not the teachings of the minis- 
try of the present day. They take much that He said in a dif- 
ferent sense from that intended by the Nazarene in His preach- 
ing to the multitudes which thronged Him. Christian Spiritual- 
ism will be the religion of the Bible to the minds of Church 
believers when they better understand it. 

" The time is coming, and not far away, when spiritual re- 
ligion will be felt as in the days of Christ and His apostles. The 
sick will be healed, the blind restored to spiritual sight, the 
dead will rise, when the spirit is increased by God's will to do 



Rev. John Manly. 269 

it for the glory of His Christian Church. Man will be in the 
form of Christ when he lives as Christ taught him. His power 
will be like Christ's when he learns spiritually what Christ 
meant by ' Ye shall do greater works than these.' My Father 
will glorify His Son in giving the seal of sonship to the works 
that He said should follow them which believe. 

" Christ was the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the spirit- 
ual kingdom of the Jewish people. The promise to Abraham 
that ' in his seed should all nations be blessed/ was fulfilled in 
the doctrines which Jesus taught them who followed Him in the 
spirit of truth and honesty. He knew who were following Him 
with the desire to know whether His ministry was temporal or 
spiritual in its character. The mind of man at that time was 
directed to the temporal things more than spiritual deliverance 
from superstition and infidelity. He kept them in ignorance of 
His true mission until its fulfillment was near at hand ; then He 
took Peter, James, and John upon the mount and showed them 
the glory of His doctrines by bringing Moses and Elias before 
them, as they should be in the resurrection from the natural 
body. His mission to earth was then perfected. Now the 
resurrection was established, it was necessary to make His 
doctrines manifest by the sacrifice of His humanity, and to ful- 
fill the Scriptures, that the people might know Him to be the one 
by whom the resurrection should be established ; not that His 
sufferings could make the resurrection more certain, but to give 
power to the truth that only the spiritual body should rise and 
vanish as Moses and Elias had done. This was to teach them 
the will power of the spirit-man. Many did see His material- 
ized body, but believed it not, for their minds were too material 
to discern spiritual things. When He told the thief, ' This day 
shalt thou be with me in Paradise/ He meant the spirit would 
be with Him in the sphere of undeveloped spirits. He was 
with the thief and other prisoners, to whom He preached while 
the Roman soldiers guarded the grave which confined His 
natural body. He was sent for that purpose, that they might 



270 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

believe the natural body rose until He could prove to them the 
spirit-body would be like it in the resurrection, made glorious 
by the power of the spiritual manifestation "of God himself; 
made immortal by the spirit of law — manifested in the progres- 
sive spheres. 

" Those who live in expectation of a great throne, with the 
* forty and four thousand ' continually singing and heaven ring- 
ing with the song of Moses and the Lamb, will find a very dif- 
ferent occupation when they come over here. They will meet 
those who never did anything on earth for the love of God and 
His creatures ' working out their salvation in fear and trem- 
bling ; ' others, who never loved anything but self, keeping the 
spirits of the lower spheres in commotion by making them con- 
tribute to their selfish gratifications. Spirits are here just what 
they were there — nothing different but the absence of the ma- 
terial body. Man is in spirit form exactly as in the natural 
form, but the spirit form is more electric, and develops much 
faster. Mind is more electric than matter ; hence, the mind is 
more enlarged in spirit-life ; this is why we can understand the 
things of God more perfectly. Man grows in spirit more 
rapidly than when trammeled with flesh and bone. Man is not 
changed by death, but only relieved of material resistance. 
This is why spirits can manifest independent of material laws. 
Man is like God in spirit when he lives Christ-like ; his heaven 
will be in proportion to the light he has within himself ; it will 
be dark in proportion as he is spiritually dark. He will learn 
this as soon as he enters the spirit-world, but he can have light 
if he will seek for it. God sends His ministering angels to 
elevate fallen ones, and they progress only as their desires in- 
fluence the laws of progression. 

" This is a subject for the study of Christians who believe in 
the literal resurrection of the material body. Christ never 
taught this idea ; Paul taught the same Christ did when he said, 
' The first is of the earth, earthy, but the second is the Lord 
from heaven.' Paul said, ' Thou fool, except it die it is not 



Rev. John Manly. 271 

quickened/ How can that part be quickened which is dead ? 
Spiritualism satisfies the manifest craving of earth ones for 
immortality, which is taught in the doctrines of Christ and His 
apostles. Ministers of the present day do not preach the 
spiritual meaning of the Scriptures. 

" If your eyes were open, as were those of the prophet's serv- 
ant, you would see that your l angel band ' had come to sym- 
pathize and comfort you, while moving through this vale of 
•tears. Yes, and they ' will meet you in the spirit land/ for 
s over there ' they are 6 waiting and watching ' for you. 

" You, my friends, are looking for that which you may never 
see — angels coming in the clouds of heaven. But you can see 
and feel their presence more sensibly than you have ever done, 
if you will continue to pray and trust. God will never fail to 
fulfill His promise. He will withhold no good thing from those 
who love and fear Him. 

"I want to give you some idea, if I can control as I de- 
sire, of the land of Beulah — the land of glory, where God 
and angels dwell. Oh, you may well desire to see your future 
homes if you live in the fear of God ; that is, in His service, 
doing His will on earth, as angels do it in heaven. The spheres 
of heaven, or the spirit- world, rise as do the coils of a screw ; 
and by the law of progression, move round, and always up- 
ward, if your spirit aspires to higher conditions. Above, is 
always shining the glorious light from the * mount of God/ 
whose summit is continually bathed with the light which the 
apostle, in his vision, called the Lamb. ' The Lamb was the 
light of it/ Upon its summit stands the city which he called 
the 'New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven/ 
What is this city ? It is the homes of the disembodied, whose 
conditions give the variety you so often hear described- 

'- Some spirits tell of their home as being built of stone, or 
material which it is impossible to describe. In earth-life you 
have nothing like it, because it is spiritual. It resembles what 
you would call crystallized granite, marble, or something akin to 



272 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

them. I tell you this, to give the best idea I can of spirit archi- 
tecture. Some tell you their homes are decorated with flowers 
and gems. This is the same as telling of the material resem- 
blance of their stone buildings. These things, or appearances, 
depend upon that which gives the spirit the most happiness. 
We have all things to make us happy and encourage aspira- 
tions to higher progress. 

(i We are told by those from higher spheres, that our homes, 
beautiful as they appear to us, are nothing in comparison with' 
the glory of those which nearer approach to the perfection of 
the temple of God, where cherubim and seraphim and the high 
and holy angels dwell. My friends, be constant in faith, dili- 
gent in good works, and your homes will be just what pure 
and useful lives in the earth sphere make for you in the spirit- 
world. Good-night. John Manly." 

HEAR WHAT A SPIRIT SAITH UNTO THE CLERGY. 

u I have never made an appeal to the ministers of the ortho- 
dox faith, but this morning feel so deeply the importance of so 
doing that I can not refrain. For my text I will take the 
language of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they preach, but often 
understand not the spiritual import of His teachings : i Except 
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and 
Pharisees, ye can not enter into the kingdom of heaven/ Now 
righteousness does not consist in conforming to church usages 
and the observance of church laws. If that had been the case 
Jesus would not have uttered the above language, for the 
Pharisees were perfect in all those things, even to the smallest 
minutiae. They were much more rigid than the churches of the 
present day, still Jesus branded them with hypocrisy, and told 
them that harlots would go into the kingdom before them. 
This would be a very bold assertion for one to make now, in 
regard to members and ministers who believe themselves 
sanctified. They do not believe it, for too well aware are they 
of their own shortcomings. When I say ministers I mean those 



What a Spirit Saith. 273 

who condemn what they know lieth at their own doors. More 
polluted are they than the objects of their condemnation, since 
they make clean the outside when there is rottenness with- 
in. By the expression, lieth at their own doors, I desire to 
cause their minds to turn to the inner man, and see if spirit 
accusation is unjust. When spirit bears witness with spirit the 
testimony is reliable. Brethren, many of you piously condemn 
that which is a mere mote, when brought in contrast with the 
beam in your own eyes. Oh, ye blind leaders of the blind, 
c first cast the beam out of your own eyes, then shalt thou see 
clearly to pull the mote out of thy brother's eye.' 

" Ye men of science and philosophy, who scorn the spiritual, 
and tax mind and body to. develop the hidden laws of nature, 
and thus teach how God deals with the material world, must 
not stop at this, but let your investigations turn to the inner 
man. You will there find laws more refined and spiritual essence 
with which they are connected a better book for teaching the 
ways of God to man, and the nature of that part which is linked 
to him by the laws of his own being. Spiritualism is uncover- 
ing .more of the hidden laws which control the spiritual part of 
God's creation, than any other science or philosophy can do ; 
hence what has been a mystery throughout all ages is now be- 
ing brought to light through spiritual knowledge. The spirit- 
man has been aroused and seeks those truths which Jesus 
Christ taught, and the result is the consternation and morbid 
opposition of the clergy, whose business has so long been to 
think for the mass of mankind, and tell them what their duties 
are. Brethren of the clergy, I come to you through this me- 
dium, who is honest, and striving to reach that plane of purity 
which will make her a beacon light of Christian Spiritualism. 
I come to you through her organism to teach you the fallacy 
of thinking you are the commissioned ones to preach the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ, when the truth is, many of you preach your own 
gospel, and Jesus is not made the expounder of His own teach- 
ings as He was upon earth. Your own minds are set forth in 
12* 



274 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

well-arranged discourses which call forth the admiration of 
your hearers for the time, but when your voices are hushed 
they go their ways, not thinking what manner of men and 
women they are. This is because you have not preached what 
many of them believe to be the truth ; consequently your Tabor 
is lost, and you and your hearers, both and all, are like the un- 
stable waters of the sea, casting up mire and dirt, because of 
the need of spiritual light. The creeds of your churches are 
grievous burdens, and borne only because they are popular. 
Jesus Christ's religion was not popular because it came from 
God, and no man can see God who does not by spiritual dis- 
cernment. The spiritual philosophy is unpopular because the 
spirit-man is in bondage, and can not worship God according 
to his own conscience. The Church claims his worship, and 
he dare not launch out in search of spiritual truth without 
offending his Church, and the cry of devil, wicked spirits, and 
all those monstrosities which for ages have bound man to 
slavish worship being raised, and anathemas hurled against any 
theory which antagonizes their authority. This worship is not 
from an enlightened conscience, but worship which men 
equally dead in trespasses and in sins dictate to him as the 
worship of his creator, God. Brethren, the time is coming, has 
already come, when men and women will throw off the yoke of 
bondage and put on the yoke of Christ, which He said was easy 
and light. 

" There is no language by which the human mind can receive 
the correct idea of the prisoner's hell — prisoners, the character 
of whom Jesus preached to, while the disciples regarded Him 
dead, and their hopes of deliverance blasted. He told His dis- 
ciples He came to seek those that were lost. He did seek 
them in their dark abode, and offered them the same salvation 
He gave to those who followed Him in the regeneration. By 
regeneration I mean to convey the idea of spiritual develop- 
ment. Regenerated and born again. Regenerated from the 
bondage of materialism to the faith once delivered to the 



What a Spirit Saith. 275 

saints — to the faith of Abraham, who believed God and it was 
imputed to him for righteousness. His righteousness was not 
of faith alone, but was perfected by the works which his faith 
manifested. Now my clerical friends of the nineteenth century 
preach of Abraham's faith and how he served God, yet their 
service being under a different dispensation, must be of a dif- 
ferent character. They tell you the animal which Abraham 
offered in sacrifice was pure. God's plan of interposition is 
through the agents whom He sends to do His work. They tell 
you the miraculous interpositions of God have all passed away. 
Why should they believe this when He is the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever ? If this be true, and it is, then why should 
they think He changes His plans or means of executing His 
laws for the accomplishment of any particular purpose ? His 
purposes are fixed and immutable, as are His laws for carrying 
those purposes to their legitimate ends. Miracles are only the 
result of faith in God, and His power to perform through His 
agents the mighty and seemingly impossible works ; hence Jesus 
said to the afflicted, ' Do you believe I am able to do this?' 
He knew He possessed the power, for He had faith in Him by 
whom He was sent, and yet He could not and did not perform 
mighty works only as the laws which controlled His power 
were obeyed — which were, faith on the part of the one to be 
benefited, in conjunction with the faith that Jesus had in the 
power which sent Him to make that power known, and God 
glorified by the manifestation. 

" Now, what is the manner of rendering service by those of 
the present day claiming to be especially commissioned of 
God ? They do not believe, as Jesus did, that faith will cause 
the heavens to open, and visible manifestations of God's power 
to fall upon their congregations. This to their understandings 
would be a miracle, and they belonged to past ages ; hence 
they labor strenuously to get up some high-sounding exhortation, 
and dig deep for some argument by which to convince their 
hearers that something is true which they themselves are not 



276 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

capable by the laws of mind of comprehending, and conse- 
quently they can not make comprehensible to those they pre- 
sume to instruct. When their intellectual efforts fail to arouse 
their sleepy hearers to a knowledge of the truth, then they at- 
tempt to reach their emotional natures by relating the great 
struggles which the Christian martyrs endured for Christ's sake, 
and how He suffered for the world's redemption. This is the 
style of preaching now, but Jesus did no such work as this. 
He went forth to His Father's work believing He was sent to 
the lost Israelites for their return to spiritual worship and serving 
of God, not from the external, but from the internal — from the 
spirit, which bears the image of God's own divinity. He be- 
lieved He would accomplish that work by the power of God, 
and by God's own manner of saving His creatures. Miraculous 
manifestations, as some believe, followed His ministry. He did 
not call them so, but spake with the full assurance of His 
word being obeyed. Thus He cast out unclean spirits, and re- 
stored the spirit-man to that condition susceptible of develop- 
ment, and like the oil of purification which the Psalmist re- 
ceived upon his head, did the influence of Jesus rest upon those 
who flocked in multitudes to hear Him. He did not call in 
help to aid Him in producing such a flood of magnetic power 
as to benumb the senses and excite the nervous organism, so 
that many would be converted whether or not. But He fol- 
lowed on from place to place, and in His own soul felt that 
assurance which God alone gives to His laborers, that the har- 
vest would be in proportion as the laws for seed-time were 
obeyed. 

"Brethren, you stand aloof from the investigation of the 
grandest philosophy God has ever given to the world — the 
brightest dispensation ever enjoyed ; the very culmination of 
the Mosaic, prophetic, and Christian dispensations. You fail 
to go into the kingdom spiritual, and you keep others out 
who would, but for the iron-bound creeds and dogmatic theories 
of the Christianity you profess to observe and understand. 



What a Spirit Saith. 277 

You are leading the blind when you are more blind than they. 
Your blindness and theirs would be dispelled and all be 
gloriously bright, if you would step into the pool while the 
angels stir the waters thereof. You are waiting by the margin 
as the man of old, to have the truth forced upon you by the 
interposition of a yet stronger power. That power will come, 
and should you pass to spirit-life before it does, you will have 
to return to earth and cancel the false teachings you are giving 
to the world just because you will not have light and liberty. 
The stone which the builders rejected became the head of the 
corner. So you will see the noble and all-saving structure of 
Christianity has been made to tremble and well-nigh fall, be- 
cause of the corner-stone being removed from the setting which 
Jesus and His apostles fixed. 

"I have done, but must exhort in conclusion, that you think 
less about worldly applause and manufacturing fine and eulo- 
gistic discourses. God requires none of these for His honor 
and glory. Look to the development of the inner man, which 
must be restored to the image of God, or he can not live in 
His spheres of love, glory, and endless beatitude." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

SPIRIT COMMUNICATIONS. 

From Brother E. C. Slater, D.D., pastor of the First Meth- 
odist church in Memphis, Term., who passed away by yellow 
fever in 1878 : 

" Brother Watson : — It is natural that the condition of the 
home I loved, and the people whom I served, bring to me asso- 
ciations which cause me to communicate with you. Aside 
from the enjoyment of that communion, I feel strengthened 
when I am with you and mingle my thoughts with yours, for 
they are kindred, so close is the connection. No wide differ- 
ences in our opinions — not even before I departed from my 
earthly habitation. 

" Our ideas now, which are considerably in advance of the 
public and popular opinions of the day, are buds just unfold- 
ing, and the exchange of abodes only tends to unfold those 
petals more rapidly. 

" While you are wandering through the shadows of the vale, 
and tears of sorrow fill your eyes, and pangs of grief pierce your 
heart, and fond hopes of future happiness often crushed, and 
disappointments and perplexities of life gather and meet you on 
the journey ; and while your footsteps are becoming somewhat 
less elastic with youthful strength, and nature is giving way to 
the infirmities of age, and friends are given and taken, you are 
still assisted by all that is hopeful, bright and promising, to travel 
on through this vale, and feel that you have an inheritance 
beyond, where you will not come in contact with any of these 
(278) 



Spirit Communications. 279 

things, remembering that you will have no more to bear than 
you have grace to support. 

" c My grace is sufficient to bear you up, in the precious prom- 
ise given ; I will guide, guard, direct, and comfort you ' — a 
promise freighted with all that is required to cheer and build 
you up. To-day you sorrow ; to-morrow, this influence is so 
soothing, you are resigned. Don't give up; look forward to a 
happy life in the bright summer land of joy. I used to think 
my life was one of checkered scenes, hardships, and toil, but I 
find that my reward is a sufficient compensation for all I 
endured. 

" Sister Watson : — T love to see you indulging in so great a 
sacrifice for a benevolent and purely Christian work. Such 
will derive more benefit from your labors and gifts than all else 
you might do. It is a general benevolent work,* and many 
will enjoy the benefit thereof. Work for the needy. Be mer- 
ciful and kind to the fallen ; help all that call upon you who 
are deserving. Clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and you 
will find that your heart will be filled with more love to God, 
and that you will enjoy peace of mind that is not afforded 
under other circumstances. One service to the prisoner, to 
the sick — one cup of water — will do more for your own spirit- 
ual development and happiness in the future than services 
attended in form and ceremony. 
. " I felt deeply for the poor and suffering class of our loved 
city, and contributed all I could, and no more could any one 
do. I laid down my life for them. I am enjoying a glorious 
recompense for it ; and so will you. There is much contributed 
here to make us happy, but yet not enough to make us su- 
premely so. We can only enjoy it to the amount we deserve, 
and that is sometimes very limited. 

" I did what I felt to be my duty. I cared for the dying, 



* The Home for the Reformation of Fallen Women, which has ac- 
complished much good for that unfortunate class of humanity. 



280 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

and bathed the scorching body, and poured the oil of consola- 
tion into many a heart-stricken mourner, and followed them to 
their last resting-place. 

" I always did my duty when I knew it to be my duty. I am 
happier from the reflection, and want to attain to a higher de- 
gree of love. I am still working in the vineyard of the Lord, 
and hope soon to meet many of my old associates. 

" Oh, I am grieved to see so little being done for the general 
good of humanity. Our duty should not stop in the sacred 
desk nor humble assembly of Christ's worshipers. Ah, no ; 
but many act as though it did. You should not bestow alms 
to be known of men, nor to have words of praise resounding 
through the highways, but in the quiet, unobtrusive manner 
dispense your good deeds. 

" Bro. Watson, you are preparing a wonderful book, that will 
speak for you when you fail to exist on earth, of the extent 
the knowledge we have of it. I do want that book to elevate 
the Spiritual doctrine above its present standard. I want all 
clouds, darkness, obscurity, and opposition to be hurled from 
it as far as the east is from the west, and come forth in its 
purity and soul-comforting power. Go ahead, and finish it as 
soon as you can practically. 

" There are so many works now in circulation that some dis- 
couragements may assail you, but I don't know that you need 
fear that. 

" I was just wondering if we could influence you, to write 
and help you. Now, go on ; I will assist you. 

"E. C. Slater." 

" My employment is simply what would interest me mostly > 
and while many think that at the hour of death we are divested 
of all our earthly desires and qualifications, and that we embark 
into an endless future, there to dwell in glory or misery forever, 
is a great mistake. I labored for the good of my fellow-creatures, 
to enlighten them— to save them from an endless torture. 



Spirit Communications. 281 

We die with that love and desire only increased, for we see to 
what extent we did good, and also see where we may do more. 
I am still laboring for the elevation of spirits who are in regions 
of darkness and need the light to guide them. This is partly 
my work, and also to impress all you who are susceptible of 
any influence. I am engaged in trying to do all the good I 
can. The position I have attained is one mostly from the 
lower class. I talk with them — I plead with them. You will 
find that the two worlds are closely allied. I promise to write 
at length upon these matters, and satisfy as well as gratify you 
in regard to the world of spirits. E. C. Slater." 

li Bro. Watson : — Although my cup of happiness is very 
nearly full, yet it is enhanced by meeting with those whose 
purity of lives and chastity of character fill me with a stronger 
degree of love and gratitude, and fill my soul with an inspira- 
tion which would naturally emanate from such a source. 
Strange it may seem that contact with such is a benefit to us. 
There is a condition or state beyond which many have reached, 
and our hope is that sometime we shall reach that happy, 
heavenly place, and be among the number who enjoy the full 
fruition of that blessed state. I am still laboring for the good 
of mankind, in the reformation of the poor, erring one. I do 
not, however, see so many objectionable traits in character and 
points of Christian belief. They are presented to me now as 
being very different to what I thought years ago. I can not 
recognize, as I did, objectionable articles of belief, for I now 
see so plainly an erroneous method of instruction, and I hope 
to see a change. Time is weaving a network of changes, 
and these will ultimately bring improvement ; though not so 
considered by earthly mortals now. 

" I have been around and about you at your time of com- 
munion previous to this, but I could not accomplish what I 
desired, and now my efforts, I hope, will not be in vain, for I 
want to say some things at this time which will interest you. I 



282 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

have left my feeble frame with the things that perish ; but that 
which is immortal still lives and shall never die. I am now in 
a world of activity, not of folded arms and clasped hands, 
weary feet, and closed lips, but where the soul expands and re- 
ceives the fresh nourishment good for its spiritual development, 
and where I can enjoy free and heavenly thoughts of the power 
and proper intentions of a mind untrammeled by the sur- 
rounding scenes and circumstances. I am very happy in this, 
my new and varied field of labor, which a life-time of patient 
endurance and toil has brought to me. I did not sail on the 
ocean of life on flowery beds of ease, but whilst I often smiled 
at pain I can now see and enjoy the recompense. Oh, that I 
had done more for the cause of Christ. One who enters this 
new and beautiful world will always feel that their enjoyment 
and degree of happiness depends upon a well and carefully 
spent life. I can now see more fully what I have endeavored 
to impress upon all who attended my ministry, while laboring 
on earth : the necessity of a godly and Christ-like walk, in 
order to secure future happiness. 

" With a limited degree of wisdom, and with a failure to im- 
prove the talents and time endowed, the amount of enjoyment 
is greatly enhanced. Each is carefully considered and meas- 
ured, and many are found wanting. I can not give you now a 
description of my entrance, nor of my home. It is not really 
as I had thought it would be. The scenery as described in the 
Bible is quite accurate, but the language there does not satisfy 
me. No one can tell of the superb grandeur and beauty of 
our blessed home. I would gladly draw the dear, loving and 
lovely children to me if I could ; but their time is not yet at 
hand, and we yield to the laws which govern all these things. 
We know the world will seem dark, cold, and lonely without 
us ; but we hope they will not forget, or cast aside lightly, the 
counsel of their father, and the tender and loving advice of 
their mother. I still hold in fond remembrance dear old 
' Wesley ' Church ; and why should I not, when I labored so 



Spirit Communications. 283 

hard for its prosperity, and with my determination to die at my 
post, resulting in the great sacrifice which was made, and if I 
could express one-half I feel, I should be satisfied that I had 
said enough. 

" My spirit hovers near the old home of earth and the pleasant 
associations so dear to me ; but all these things do not make 
me less happy. We are not alone in trying to influence our 
earthly friends to join us in our beautiful spirit-home. We are 
your ministers, endeavoring to incline your hearts unto good 
thoughts and works, that you may be happy in the hereafter. 

" E. C. Slater." 

PRAY E R. 

" Bro. Watson : — I am here listening to your expressions 
upon the subject under consideration at this hour, and I want 
to say that, even with my short experience in my new life, I am 
endowed with a more correct idea of what the Church desires 
and the world needs. There is a tendency already in that 
direction — a mighty reformation is going on in the Church — there 
is a power unrevealed operating upon the minds of the intelli- 
gent, thinking class. This change is more perceptible in the 
construction placed upon many leading features in the funda- 
mental articles of belief. The construction is not to-day what 
it was many years ago. The ministers do not preach nor ex- 
pound the Scriptures in the same way they did. Their inter- 
pretation is not the same. I am not speaking despairingly, nor 
do I wish to be understood so, for I believe there will ulti- 
mately be made manifest a great demonstrative spiritual de- 
velopment in Christ's kingdom. The hearts of men will be 
drawn nearer to His cause, and love and harmony will universally 
reign supreme. But I must here impress upon you the great 
lever which is to sustain and support you, and which is the 
mighty power by which this is to be effected — it is prayer. There 
is nothing more essential to bring the result so much needed by 
the Church than fervent prayer, good works, faith, and patience ; 



284 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

more zeal in Christian work, and a greater desire to assist 
others than yourselves ; for in thus doing you are greatly bene- 
fiting yourselves. There is too much selfishness. You should 
stretch out your arms and endeavor to bring those whom you 
see indifferent to good works, and point out to them the neces- 
sity of thinking, acting, and trusting in the promises already 
given to those who imitate the example of Jesus. He came 
among you performing good works, humble in manner, free 
from ostentation, thus manifesting simplicity in all things. You 
are taught to pray, and be not weary in well-doing, and encour- 
aged by precious promises. 

" Prayer will bring to you what is best for your temporal and 
spiritual good. We feel the power of prayer, and see that it is 
still needed in our progression in divine life. Prayer does not 
cease in the earthly life, it extends beyond the grave. I see the 
power manifested more since my entrance in my spiritual ex- 
istence, than I thought I should. Indeed, I was ignorant of 
the fact. I see now more fully why professing Christians often 
become careless and cold, and complain of not enjoying that 
degree of happiness which is their privilege to enjoy. It is 
because they neglect prayer. They become too much en- 
grossed with worldly pursuits and gain. Their religion assumes 
the form and lip service too much for their spiritual advance- 
ment. 

" Christians must pray more, that the world may be brought 
to the knowledge of the Saviour. Too much preaching and too 
little praying. God is willing and waiting to help all who ask, 
and there is more necessity for earnest asking now than ever 
before. I pity a minister when he addresses a prayerless 
audience. He derives no strength sufficient for the trial. 
Prayer tenders the ties of life and binds them closer, by the 
holy penetrating influence it imparts. We, too, are greatly 
benefited by your prayers. This is a truth I could not assert 
until I passed over, and now I realize it. E. C. Slater." 



Spirit Communications. 285 

" Bro. Watson : — There are throngs of spirit friends, and 
many who are strangers to you in the flesh, visit you in 
your earthly mansion, whose influences they exert over you are 
pure, true, and holy. They are beings once wearing the man- 
tle of the mortal, but now immortal ; once claiming good at 
your hands, now trying to impart the same to you ; once ask- 
ing for food and raiment, now trying to clothe you with the 
mantle of holiness ; once asking for the bread of life, now feed- 
ing you with manna from the heavenly land, giving you words of 
counsel and admonitions upon subjects pertaining to your pres- 
ent life and the one which is ahead. You have many to rise 
up and call you blessed. 

"Now, my dear Brother, be of good cheer, and go on, you 
shall have your reward. * Be ye perfect as your Father which 
is in heaven is perfect/ The way seems rough and stormy at 
times, and the pathway dark to many, yet I imagine there are 
many clouds to obscure your view, but you can look ahead and 
see a bright and glorious future. You keep your lamp trimmed 
and burning, and have constantly that beacon light to guide 
you. 

" Now, whilst I am picturing to you whafl see from the light 
I have to guide me in my ideas concerning you, I can but draw jf 
the contrast in my case. My labors were not in vain, my in- 
tentions were acceptable, and did do good, for which I am now 
rewarded. My words were not as pearls cast before swine, but 
as bread upon waters, to be seen for many days hence. I see 
the result of my influence. I can see where I have sowed seed 
in good ground, and am happy from that ; but, on the other 
side, I can also see where I erred, and failed to improve my 
talents, and to even allow the proper expansion of my ideas on 
many subjects. I kept them suppressed, though painful in the 
extreme ; but I was of the earth. I can see now where I was 
amiss. My memory serves me still, and sets enthroned, and 
much to the reproach of a neglected useful career, which might 
have been my glorious delight in this my new life. I am 



286 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

happy, and yet I am only sufficiently so to enhance the ex- 
treme desire to be more so. I am still working. The lover 
of God, His works, and fellow-creatures, in both worlds, stim- 
ulate me to an active life, even beyond the vale, and we are 
never satisfied. There is an eternity ; there is no end to our 
love, our joy, and bliss. We leave the earthly to come to a 
better and fairer world, prepared for enjoyment to the extent 
we merit. We are not satisfied ; our souls yearn for something 
better and purer, and we ascend to heights of joy, and we 
drink from the fountain, and are still thirsty for the living 
water. There is a stream which makes us glad. We wander 
along its banks and quaff from its pearly waters and feel re- 
freshed. 

Brother Watson : when I look back to my checkered 
life, and remember the cares, trials, and disappointments inci- 
dent to that life, I am glad that I felt them, for I was purified 
in the furnace and prepared for the reward which was in wait- 
ing for me. I did not see it then as I do now. Nor would I 
have had one less. I want these things to loom up before me, 
that I may constantly keep before me the goodness, the mercy, 
and justice of God and His messengers, who were my guar- 
dian friends. God works through angelic ministry in many 
ways unknown to you. Many impute the accidents, fail- 
ures, and afflictions to the power of Providence, when, in 
reality, as I now see it, it is from the violation of natural 
laws. You believe, and are correct, that there is a special 
protective power over and about you, yet, when you trifle 
with the natural laws, you are often beyond the control of 
this power. There are many subjects upon which my mind 
was in uncertainty and doubt, but which have been made clear 
to me. I have many missions, and service in good works 
knows no abatement; nor would I be happy if I did not work. 
When your earthly career is ended, and you come over, how 
happy we shall be. E. C. Slater." 



Spirit Communications. 287 

" Bro. Watson : — Many months (as you estimate time) 
have passed since I have enjoyed the delightful privilege of 
communion with my dear friends of your happy family. It 
has been no fault of yours ; but the circumstances of the 
present constrain me to an effort to control the medium suffi- 
ciently to express myself satisfactorily. Earth-life has charms 
for its inhabitants, although freighted with sorrows and trials 
of varied caste, yet there is a desire to cling to it. There are 
a few, comparatively speaking, who wish to exchange their 
mode of existence, even without having a perfect knowledge of 
what that change might bring to them. They feel, certainly, 
that their condition would be improved ; but, alas ! they know 
not what awaits them in the future life. The earthly career is 
never a moment longer than it is necessary, and though some 
are called to a premature birth into the new life, yet it is to 
be regretted. 

" My work was unfinished, my course was not run, that I 
might have enjoyed more of the ineffable bliss of my mansion 
beyond the earth. . I had done what I thought I could, but by 
my life having been prolonged, my eyes would have been more 
widely opened and my knowledge would have increased, and 
the shell or casket which contained me would have severed, 
and I would have explored more extensively in the gratifica- 
tion of my senses, for whilst a man may restrain from any ex- 
pression of advanced ideas, or hesitate to express what he be- 
lieves for fear of public condemnation and of being utterly 
ignored, yet the convictions and enjoyment of this knowledge 
can not be longer smothered, but will eventually burst into a 
flame of fearless and undaunted ardor, and a determination to 
speak out his conviction of truth and right overcome all trepi- 
dations, acting boldly, without fear of man, but with the assur- 
ance of the favor of God. My mind was undergoing a process 
of change, in my opinion, upon many subjects, which I believe 
will in some future day be received by the world. I see rapid 
strides in all the churches, digressions from the old way 3 lib- 



288 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

erality in sentiment and in government indicate a great revolu- 
tion ahead. I was not ignorant of these facts while an inhabi- 
tant of the earth plane. The doctrine of spirit intercourse I 
did not ignore as being possible, though I did not fathom its 
depth in my investigations, therefore could not advocate it as 
a brave man should have done. I see and understand the 
philosophy of it now, and desire to proclaim its truth to the 
world. E. C. Slater. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Rev. P. T. Scruggs was a Methodist preacher for about 
forty-five years. He was judge of the criminal court when he 
died in 1878. This was written soon after Judge Scruggs 
passed over from yellow fever in 1878 : 

" Bro. Watson : — Though feeble, I am enabled to come to 
you if it is only to announce the name which has been so 
familiar to you for many years past. I am happy to say to 
you that I am one among many who can testify to you the truth 
of spirit communion. I realize the truth of what you affirmed. 
I know I have made myself manifest to my wife. She has felt 
my presence, and I confess that I have been near her much of 
the time since my departure. I have traversed the spiritual 
world, and gratified my desires to see and know much of the 
new world to me. I wish I could have strength to say what I 
feel constrained to this evening. I shall realize my desire 
sometime. I have been here before, but have not made my- 
self known. You were acquainted with the views I formerly 
entertained upon this subject — that I was skeptical ; but, hav- 
ing passed into the spirit-world, or rather having thrown off 
the mortal covering, I see things very differently. My spiritual 
vision unfolds to me what I had long desired to know. I shall 
continue to develop and progress in knowledge, and give you 
the benefit as best I can. Your old friend, 

"P. T. Scruggs." 

" Bro. Watson : — I attended you on last Sabbath afternoon, 
and was very much strengthened by the association with the 

T 3 (289) 



290 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

individuals with whom you met, and also admit that the address 
or exhortation given was good, and was bread for spirits as well 
as mortals. It was as manna coming from the holy spheres ; 
and though there was much said which accorded with my views, 
there was some which did not. I will here admit that I have 
not progressed sufficiently to abandon some of my old orthodox 
views. I believe that now is the beginning of the millennium, 
and that the old kingdom is being transformed. A great revo- 
lution is dawning. Now, what this will eventually bring to 
light I have not yet been able to discern. I believe the doc- 
trine of spiritual communion will be universally received, and 
the Church creed, where it refers to ' communion of saints/ 
will not be mere lip expression, but accepted as meaning spirit 
intercourse, where spirits mingle their feelings with each other 
and where influence sways its mighty power over earthly loved 
ones. This precious truth, which is revealed to you and many 
others, and can and will be to many more, in the course of 
time, is gradually invading the homes of many with whom 
prejudice and fear of public opinion have bid defiance to its 
entrance ; and its hallowed influence, blessed by a Christian 
affinity, tends to direct you in a correct and happy walk through 
your earthly life. 

" Your manner of living either attracts or repels a good and 
happy spirit. We are sensitive to the magnetism which attends 
you. As many mortals may trifle with the Holy Spirit and for- 
bid its entrance, so we can be repelled by the impression im- 
parted to us that we are not desired or needed. A life of up- 
rightness and purity is necessary. Oh, that I could impress 
this truth upon all ! P. T. Scruggs." 

6i Brother Watson : — I shall not feel that I have related 
much of importance or interest to you until I tell you of the 
new home, new body, and happy life. 

" The home is one for the soul, and the associations are 
spiritual. It can never be less happy than it is, as harmony 



Rev. P. T. Scruggs. 291 

does and always will unchangeably exist. No gilded walls, 
with pictures hung, nor earthly splendor shines, but where love 
exists, and where we feel the presence of our Saviour abiding 
with us, and where loved ones meet and mingle their tenderest 
feelings of souls that have been purified by this holy influence 
— this is my happy home ; and the emotion of joy is very 
great, for I feel that I can dwell in constant peace at home. 
No cankering cares, no separations ; no wail of woe from the 
unhappy ones, to disturb the tranquillity I enjoy in my abode. 

" Now, I shall digress to speak of my form — a subject which 
interests you very much. I am possessed of a new body — 
one without deformities and feebleness, not even wearing the 
traces of affliction and age. I can but wonder now how I 
could have ever lived as I did, and cheerfully did I depart 
from my old, weary, worn, and tattered frame, when my spirit 
took its flight to the spheres of an unknown world. 

" While it is moldering into dust, I am happy, and am now 
the real man, untrammeled by the garb of earthly human flesh. 
How erroneous the idea of clinging to the old body, which is 
only temporary, and which perisheth. I have a spiritual body 
which was given me at death. I can now see, Brother Wat- 
son, how utterly ignorant one can be before entering the reali- 
ties of the untried state. 

gi I am happy to be with you to-night as a new-bojn spirit, and 
. as a new stalk of corn from its cell. I can go to and fro, hav- 
ing strength and activity. I can go on missions of love and 
mercy. I am often present as a guardian protector to my 
loved ones. Death only opens the door to a new life. It does 
not. correct mistakes in life. You will awake to the conscious- 
ness that you are in a new state, and one which you merit by 
your course of conduct while on earth. The new body is not 
alone, but is blessed in the companionship of loved ones, who 
have only awaited its exit from the earth sphere. 

" Brother Watson, I hope to enter into details more fully 
at some future time. Phineas T. Scruggs." 



292 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" Brother Watson : — I am gaining heights in the happy 
spirit land — am realizing more fully the depth of gratitude and 
extent of purity than I had when I last met with you; and it 
may seem strange that my contact with you assists me very 
much. One would suppose, whose mind had been in darkness 
relative to the truth of some subjects, or what was in the be- 
yond, that when the spirit left the body, which it does at the 
time of death, it enters into the unchanging joys of heaven, 
never to mingle with the beings which still inhabit the earth ; 
but this is not true. There is an error which has been revealed 
to me since my entrance, much to my astonishment, for I be- 
lieved I would awake in a place called heaven, where all was 
beautiful and grand, and I would see the Saviour, and adore 
Him, as we would a king on his throne — pay homage to Him, 
as we would to a sovereign ruler ; that we would fear to offend 
His majesty, and that we would bow submissively to His will. 
Oh, what a delusion ! and I wish I could proclaim to the world 
the wonderful changes which my departure revealed to my 
astonished view. I laid down my mortal to put on the immor- 
tal ; I threw off the old mantle, and appeared in the new and 
real being. I saw that I had been sadly erroneous in my ideas 
of the new life or new birth. I hardly knew myself. I came 
forth in vigor and spiritual strength. I came forth in the youth 
of manhood.' I was free from the debility of declining nature ; 
I was as a bud just blossomed in its perfectness and beauty. I * 
then saw that at death I was perfectly disrobed. My mantle 
fell ; I embarked into a sea of unknown realities, and soon dis- 
covered that my work had not ended, but had just begun. I 
saw a held wide in expanse, and all were engaged in work for 
their heavenly Father, and I soon saw that I must do like- 
wise — that I had been too much engaged in looking after the 
material, to the neglect of the spiritual. I asked, Why is this 
constant effort ? the reply, We are just beginning where we left 
off in the earth-life, and we must first merit what we shall after- 
terward enjoy. I then entered the field ' as a laborer, and 



Rev. P. T. Scruggs. 293 

find that I have to improve the neglected talents. My brother, 
there is no one standing by the way idle ; but we find much to 
do. I revert to the time I spent in the office of minister for 
Christ, and they were the most useful days of my life on earth ; 
but when I commenced to contend and engage in worldly pur- 
suits, I see where I misapplied my gifts, and deserve no re- 
ward for it — consequently enjoy no degree of happiness for 
that. I permitted the material above the spiritual to engross 
my thoughts and attention. There is a grand sublimity in the 
period of man's life called death. His body the covering 
which is laid aside and prized only for its service for many or 
few days of existence, and the perfect model comes forth, as it 
were, in a real and perfect form. I am now prepared to give 
this as my experience, and it has, of course, been established as 
such. When I passed over I soon saw that I did not have to 
wait for the resurrection, but that it was waiting for me, and 
that I felt the change instantly in entering the world of activity, 
which all will find at their expiration of time on earth. I shall 
no longer discuss this subject, but find it to be a fact. The 
resurrection is the theme which is often discussed, and has 
varied phases of belief. It is now the simplest truth ever pro- 
claimed to the world, and, like many other subjects, almost 
worn out with unprofitable discussions. 

" I want my friends to know what I have seen, heard, and 
know with my own spiritual senses, which do not deceive me. 
We do retain enough of our own natural elements to ren- 
der ourselves recognizable, or else the comforting thought and 
reality of heavenly recognition would be abandoned, and heaven 
would not be the happy place it is. The spheres are attained 
by constant prayer and effort, and though some may not meet 
and mingle with each other continually, yet they see and know 
each other. We are happy in the work of elevating others. I 
hope, Brother Watson, you will be benefited in the revelation 
I have made this evening. P. T. Scruggs." 



2 94 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

From Judge Hall : 

" Mr. Watson : — Having given you my ideas in a previous 
article concerning some important topics, I shall only indulge 
a few random thoughts to-night, which are, in my opinion, 
worthy of consideration. 

" There must be love and charity for each other entertained, 
that it should prosper and acquire a strong and substantial 
basis. There must be more spirituality, a nearer approach to 
the Giver of all perfect gifts. Let the sentiment of all be — 

" * Nearer, my God, to Thee.' 

u There is a too high estimate centered upon the mediums and 
the phenomenal part of Spiritualism. When the attention has 
been directed to the investigation, by the wonderful powers of 
a class called mediums, and a fact established, then comes the 
time to progress, and always act in such a manner as to satisfy 
the world that we are walking hand in hand with the inhabitants 
of the angel world, claiming to be guided and directed by their 
hallowed influence. 

"Now 1 do hope to impress upon my earthly friends the neces- 
sity of activity in this matter, in order to bring about a change. 
I do request you to use your influence in this respect, urg- 
ing the spirituality among the Spiritualists, for they are of 
the earth, too, earthy, and are depending too much upon the 
powers of mediums to establish their belief in the doctrine. 

"Now your article in the Journal pleased me ; I agree with 
you ; and whilst I was not a very spiritual .man, yet I now see 
where I might have been a greater help to mankind. I was 
not what might be termed a very exemplary Christian while in 
the world, for I allowed myself to be too much engrossed with 
material things and literary pursuits. I can but lament this 
course in the abode which I now occupy. 

" You will gratify me by expressing your views upon this 
subject. I am, as ever, your spirit friend, 

" Henry G. Hall." 



Judge Henry G. Hall. 295 

The author of the foregoing communication was a resident of 
Shreveport, La., and died there of yellow fever iri 1873/ What 
he says of " our home society " is true in regard to many socie- 
ties. Spirituality is the great need of Spiritualists. They are 
on too material a plane. They depend too much on lecturers 
and mediums. Too much importance is attached to the phe- 
nomenal phase of Spiritualism. 

Judge Hall was a graduate of Yale College, and a first-class 
literary and scientific man, as any one can see who has ever 
read his review of " Clock Struck One" published in " Clock 
Struck Three." He was a prominent lawyer and judge. The 
Methodist Church honored him as a delegate from the Louisiana 
Annual Conference to represent them in the General Confer- 
ence, which met in Memphis, 1870; yet he was not what is 
called a very spiritual man. His religion was more on the intel- 
lectual plane. He now regrets his want of spirituality while 
in the form. 

Had he investigated Spiritualism before he passed over, we 
doubt not he would have realized more spirituality, and entered 
upon a higher plane in spirit-life. The formalities, the Church, 
nor official position in Church or State, avail nothing on the 
other side ; neither does a knowledge of spirit-communion, un- 
less it influence our lives, benefit us here or there. It is only 
a means to accomplish a glorious object, which is a preparation 
for the spiritual world, and whatever progress we have made in 
the present state to begin in the other life. How very impor- 
tant, then, for us to live purely, working £pr humanity, and. thus 
fitting ourselves for the glorious work of a ministering angel to 
loved ones on the earth plane ! Let us pray for, and live for, 
a baptism of the spirits in our "home societies," "home cir- 
cles," and all over our land. Then, as in the primitive Church, 
it will be said : See how these people love one another ! 

From Judge Hall during our absence : 

" Mr. Watson : — We see it is necessary for you to be 



296 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

present in order for the medium to become in a proper condi- 
tion for the reception of ideas coming from us. You possess a 
power to attract us, and assist us in our mission to the earth. 
There can be heights attained where we seem to lose the in- 
clination to ever visit again the haunts of our earth-life, though 
we may have tender ties, those we love and feel as though we 
were to be always near, yet as we become more spiritual we 
find the inclination to descend to the lower habitations or 
material associations of earth, or any other sphere, diminish. 
You can appreciate my views, for similar cases are found even 
in your sphere. You are hampered with a mortal covering, 
and physically you are better fitted for the place you occupy ; 
but the casket (your body) is too contracted for a spirit which 
is constantly expanding and yearning for the spiritual devel- 
opments to be permitted to remain in that condition longer 
than the casket can retain it. You are looking beyond, and up- 
ward and onward is your motto. You will ere long break the 
fetters which bind you, and will immerge into a land of beauty, 
joy, and happiness, then you will aspire to brighter joys and 
pursuits of a more genial nature. Your affinities there will not 
be what you desire, and your spirit soars to reach more and 
more of the long-sought bliss of heavenly delights. Such are 
the aspirations of a soul, seeking and desiring the glorious 
depths of an approbation of an All-pleased Father of mercy 
and adored Saviour. You are blessed in His service, and so 
are all who do His will. You go at His and His messengers* 
bidding ; you yield |o the sweet influences of your angelic 
friends on the bright shores of immortality, who are waiting to 
conduct you across the river. You dispense words of truth to 
the ignorant. Your words fall only to instruct, comfort, and 
prepare erring, sinful man for the life beyond. We are only the 
agencies used by the Supreme Teacher to impart through our 
mediums these instructions, and only think of the importance 
of your mission ; you are used only as the dispenser of the 
truths of a doctrine which shall ere long be acknowledged all 
over the land." 



Judge Henry G. Hall. 297 

Communication from Judge Hall : 

" Mr. Watson : — There has been a long silence on my part, 
not because my interest in you and your cause has abated, nor 
ray love and high regard for you grown cold— but there are 
always so many who are ready to communicate with you, that 
I feel like giving w T ay, and I have never exercised my power 
with any other medium with whom you are brought in contact, 
hence my silence. I have been trying to unravel a mystery to 
mc — not by experimenting in materialization, but in obtaining 
information as to the probability and possibility. That it has 
been done in ancient times I do not doubt, nor do I doubt that 
it can be done now; but is it not possible for earth-mortals to 
be mistaken, is what I fear. 

" We are capable of doing very many wonderful spiritual diffi- 
culties, as you imagine, but when they are properly understood 
from crucial investigation, it then becomes an easy matter. We 
consider nothing difficult when we can be governed by natural 
laws, by spiritual directors and influences, for there is power 
granted us. We know there can be consolidation of spiritual 
elements brought forth through the medium and the atmos- 
phere and the surrounding magnetism, which is above all doubt ; 
but then there is some chance for deception — and this you 
understand, for I well know your instructions from a well- 
authenticated source, and from a band who are making this a 
study, and of course are better prepared to advise you than I. 

6< I am advancing to a higher life, and one that is to me more 
congenial. I am not satisfied unless I am progressing. My 
mind is reaching out to grasp in everything that is ennobling, 
purifying in its nature. I love truth ; I love mercy ; I love 
purity, and am trying to attain that degree which will insure 
for me a place in that sphere. I find that it is easier to descend 
than to ascend, and the consequence is, my efforts are contin- 
ually in something which pertains to that higher life. I am not 
content, still I am happy. 

" The important crisis has come with you — that in refer- 
13* 



298 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ence to your ideas of materialization. I do not attach the im- 
portance to becoming visible that many do, because in this I 
see many obstacles and ways of deception ; and if a person is 
ever deceived, he, if not a confirmed believer, has his faith 
shaken in the doctrine. I regret it, but it is so. A tub may 
rest upon a good bottom, but the hoops may be loosened and the 
slightest tap may cause it to fall, when if let alone it might 
stand a long time, and with careful handling have the necessary 
repairs made without being moved from, its placte. 

i( We will assist you in your present arrangement ; we think 
it pretty good, and it must be continued some time. If I 
can detect anything wrong I will endeavor to inform you, for 
we should do it. Begin as soon as you can." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 

The following communication is from Bro. R. W. Blew, the 
publisher of the Western Methodist, whose family (all but one) 
passed away of yellow fever in 1878. He had partially investi- 
gated Spiritualism, but his relations to the Church prevented 
him from an open avowal of his convictions in regard to it. 

He was much devoted to the interest of the children in the 
paper, and is known by the people as u Uncle Bob." 

" Bro. Watson : — I can't help but come to a cheerful, happy 
firesjde. You remind me of many happy and delightful times 
we have spent in the earth-life. Those were happy times, and 
I was a happy man, and one who should have been, and I think 
I was, a very grateful and thankful man. I never had the heavy 
rod of affliction to fall upon me, and when I was smitten down 
with fever my greatest desire was, if I had to depart, I wanted 
my family to go with me, which request or desire was gratified. 
t never have regretted it, but have been happy ever since. 

" I have one regret, and that is, I did not do more in a spir- 
itual way. And now only one dear little creature remains, 
and if we could we would have her. Wife was with Sister Wat- 
son, and she feels anxious to communicate, but that is yet to 
be done more satisfactory than she has. We must proceed 
cautiously in some matters, and can't see how we could effect 
a change, but time will bring it all right. I am as happy as I 
deserve to be. I met several friends I have not seen for years. 
There is one feature of this life that I derive comfort from, and 

(299) 



3°° The Religion of Spiritualism. 

that is, the meeting and recognition of loved ones. Ask some 
questions. 

" I can easily answer your question in regard to my exit and 
entrance. When I waked as from sleep, I found myself with 
friends whom I had once called dead ; but no, they were 
not dead. They came to welcome me. My spirit did not 
rise to high and celestial abodes, but I found myself waiting 
still the loved ones of earth, and yet lingering near by to see 
how I might give comfort to those left behind. I will give you 
some idea of how I felt. 1 found things very different from 
what I expected. My views were undergoing a great change 
before I left. I find myself inadequate to the task of giving 
you a correct idea of our beautiful home in the spirit-world ; 
but would you imagine me with my family, composed of all but 
our little Sallie and many others. I am blest with the dear ones 
with me, and children seem to crowd around me. I still per- 
form my mission talking to them. I felt an atmosphere of love 
permeate my new life, as though it came to take possession 
of me. 

" My ideas were far from being advanced, but I believed all 
would work out right. Importance should not only be attached 
to great things, but small ones, for there has been much greatness 
encased in a very small casket. I slight not small things, but 
feel and know there is much significance in them sometimes. 
Hence I can condescend (if I should term it) to the tiny raps. 
I can not slight any, for I can make my presence known even to 
these. 

" Your steps have been taken in the right direction. The 
careful and prayerful attendance to the meetings should result 
in good to your souls — should quiet the disturbed mind and 
soothe the aching heart. There must be more of the religious 
element in your ranks if you hope to succeed, and you all will 
see it. Some will oppose it and think this is but mockery, but 
I tell you there is too little of the spiritual among you. I want 
to see the religious element preponderate. 



Words of Encouragement. 301 

11 You must pardon me for not answering all your questions 
right away, as I have to stop to regain my strength. I am too 
feeble to write more. Your friend, R. W. Blew." 

" Bro. Watson :— We expect to say something more ex- 
pressly for your book, for I want you to become the author of 
a book which will live always after you have joined your friends 
in the spirit-world. You will then see the object your band 
had in impressing you to write one, and you will be happier. I 
love every one, and to those who linger on earth I will say 
that my constant prayer is that all may be made to feel the 
assurance that they are accepted by Jesus. I am, of course, 
busily employed doing good, and intend showing to you some- 
thing I have done. 

" Have you seen Jesus ? — the medium through whom much 
has been done and whose example we should imitate. I have 
seen Him, as I would behold any pure, good spirit, and who 
is a supreme guardian for us. His example is living, and can 
never be obliterated from the hearts of men. This is what we 
should imitate. 

? You must not expect my views to have undergone a very 
decided change in so short a time, and as a new-born babe 
must derive nourishment from its mother to strengthen and for- 
ward its development and its physical perfection, so we 
must be fed and matured by degrees to the development of 
the spiritual. In some things I am Blew naturally ; in some I 
am Blew spiritually. I am orthodox yet on many points. 
Days, weeks, and months with you pass on without giving you 
any definite indication of the great changes which are being 
wrought in the land in which you dwell and love. We have the 
faculty of sometimes having an insight into the hidden future. 

" We see things — objects, and the effect — which you do not. 
The present is yours. All is ours. The future shall and will 
reveal much that will cheer, and make you happy, and which 
will lend lustre to your fading years of declining nature. I 



302 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

have allusion to your great degree of spiritual enjoyment. The 
facilities for your development will be more numerous, and 
your heart endowed with a just appreciation of all this. 

" I care not for public demonstration and display. Some 
enjoy it, and are not fully satisfied without it, but give me the 
quiet, unobtrusive manner in which to act my part in either 
life. 

" Such is your feeling and sentiments, congenial. You will 
be called often to advocate the cause in both public and pri- 
vate, and you must be ready, for the harvest will be after a while. 
The laborers are called from every direction. You must rally to 
the standard. The climax must be reached, and ere you are 
called away you will, no doubt, have done your part. 

" The revolution will result in one great shout of praise to 
the Lord. The clouds sometimes gather and turn up before us, 
but they are omens of something refreshing, and will burst, and 
the effect will be very strengthening and beneficial. There is 
a gloom over your city, and you sometimes feel that nothing will 
ever come, but don't be discouraged, Jesus is your friend. 

" I always see that encouragement is very nluch needed, for 
so many think that because there is so little public demonstra- 
tion that Spiritualism is dying out, never to be resurrected ; 
but the darkest hour is just before day, and a calm very often 
precedes a storm, so you must be hopeful. I wish I could tell 
you how much I glory in your labors, for I see the result is all 
for the good of man, and I love to elevate our race. 

"I am progressing, and quite rapidly too. I have many 
gleams of light. AVe are struggling to help those in earth-life in 
their cares and perplexities. Sister Watson will be willing, I 
know, for me to finish this soon. As I am too tired writing to 
complete the article, I will take my departure for to-night. 
" Your friend, R. W. Blew.' 1 

" Samuel : — I came with Bro. Blew, but wanted him to 
occupy the time, so I cheerfully retired. He always seems so 



Words of Encouragement. 303 

much gratified when he holds communion with you. He says 
he has much to learn, and intends to do it. His aspirations 
are very ennobling. He is not satisfied to sit down and feast 
only, as it were, with those who are just like him, and then they 
hold what they term a council. 

" I am glad you have enjoyed this chat. 

" Your affectionate Mollie." 

I make the following extract from a communication from an 
old and intimate friend, one of the most prominent members 
of the Memphis Conference : 

" Bro. Watson : — I have never yet attempted to say any- 
thing to those I left behind, for I know how averse they were 
to anything of the kind. 

" Now, Bro. Watson, I always loved you, and am still cog- 
nizant of your actions. You are a true man, and, as you 
always have tried to do, living up to your convictions of duty. 
We were always united in sentiment, though we never ex- 
changed our opinions upon the present expressed faith of yours, 
and the liberal free thought and speech of the day. I was 
always an advocate of the truth, and if that had been my belief 
while in the flesh, I should have boldly acknowledged it. 

" However, we have ascended the ladder, and whilst we de- 
serve not yet the pinnacle, we shall strive on till we gain the 
top. I am now at a loss to describe to you the experience of 
my first entrance into the life of a spirit, free from its encasement. 
We lived long in the service of our Master. We inherited the 
precious bestowal of His love and tender care, and through 
many long years we consecrated our lives to His service, and, 
when we departed the natural part of our existence, we em- 
barked into a vast sea of never-ending usefulness. Here we 
are always renewed, day by day, with power to press on in the 
service of God, which shall never end. We have a mansion 
within us, we have a mansion around us, and we have a man- 
sion above us. The heights, lengths, and depths of divine 



304 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

love, charity, and confidence in a saving and just Redeemer, 
has become in, and to us, mansions. We love His renewing 
grace, which still attends the spirit. I am endeavoring to in- 
crease my power and influence upon mankind, and though I 
see little intimation of a change, yet I know the day will come. 

" I shall visit your circle again. 

" I am still your old friend and brother, 

" G. W. D. Harris." 

I make a short extract from a communication from Rev. 
J. D. Andrews, who has written through several mediums, and 
given many very remarkable tests of his identity, several of 
which I did not know till months after they were given : 

"We have had delightful seasons of spirit communion, in 
which we have spoken freely to you, upon the blessed subject 
of heavenly recognition of spirits communing with you, and 
upon the advanced ideas presented in the doctrine of the same. 
I have long since discovered the far-off, and mistaken, and in- 
correct interpretation of some of the teachings of our minis- 
ters. Some have grown out of, and have received these truths 
in an advanced manner, and do openly and nobly defend and 
present the same to the world ; whilst others conceal much 
which is true and good. 

" I feel that if I could live my earth-life over as a public 
proclaimer, I should exercise my talents and knowledge to a 
better advantage. I would do much of my work over again, 
and effect a happier result in the life to which you are all tend- 
ing ; and not only you, but we. Our position in spirit-life, the 
degrees of happiness and enjoyment, our employment de- 
pends upon ourselves, in the life which you are now living. I 
regret exceedingly that in consequence of failing to live as they 
should, many remain in a lower sphere than otherwise, for we 
ascend just in proportion to the manner we have lived, and the 
amount of usefulness we have accomplished in the flesh. 



Words of Encouragement. 305 

" You must adhere as closely to the Bible as you can, and 
then you may expect persons to hear you, who .have always 
had a profound conviction of its truth. It is often the case 
that your teachings impress them — you don't make a wreck of 
their former teachings all at once. You are prepared to show 
many their true position who do not know it. I wish you 
God-speed, and much success. J. D. Andrews." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

PLAIN TALK FROM AN OLD FRIEND. 

" I must insist that you sing and pray before you can har- 
monize with the spirit friends who come to tell of the life be- 
yond. We want your circle to be more spiritual. You can 
not expect mediums to be subject to spirit control from the 
higher spheres when their minds are not directed to spiritual 
subjects until they are seated to write. Even then they are 
often occupied with the floating thoughts which may perchance 
find lodgment in their brains. Such communications, while 
they may interest and excite wonder, sometimes their spiritual 
effects are not what those coming from higher and holier spheres 
would be. 

"You have progressed to that plane of spiritual belief that 
would attract the angels from their spheres of light, and' whose 
presence would illumine your pathway if you could always have 
that harmony of souls and spirits which is necessary to hold 
them near to tell of the joys of immortal life and happiness 
that ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard.' I do not com- 
plain, but only exhort you to be more spiritually-minded in 
your meetings. I know you desire the truth, and we want to 
make it known. We must have conditions harmonious with 
spirit-laws to do this. Spirits must not be dictatorial, for mor- 
tals have identities as well ; but we must persuade and counsel. 
It is for your instruction that we leave our bright abodes and 
come to earth. It has no attraction for us but to benefit 
journeying and struggling mortals in their progress to eternity. 

" Moses Brock." 
(306) 



Plain Talk from an Old Friend, 307 

We asked him to stay and give us further information — re- 
marked that we used to talk of the subject of Spiritualism when 
little but table-tipping was known. He wrote as follows : 

" Friend Watson : — What is it you want to know ? I am, 
you know, a Spiritualist, and ready now as in earth-life to talk 
of those things. I labored for the good of souls then, and am 
doing the same now, but my knowledge is greatly increased 
and I can tell you more of spirit-life than you have ever learned 
from table-tipping if I can only have proper conditions. But 
you must let me have them before I can tell just what will 
satisfy you with all the light you have. Now proceed with 
questions, if you have any." 

Question. — Tell us of your home, employments, and sur- 
roundings. 

Answer. — " I entered upon this life halt, maimed, and blind 
with the old dogmas and creeds of Methodism hanging to me. 
I soon saw the time had come with the Church when she must 
throw them aside to go into all the world and preach the Gos- 
pel. Christ told them (His disciples) to preach. I found my 
home bright with the love of God and the company of the first- 
born, who had come up through tribulations as he had come. 
You want me to describe my home from a material stand-point, 
or rather to give you an idea of its appearance from association 
with material things. I can not do this ; neither would it do 
you any good, for you have had c line upon line, and prerept 
upon precept,' still you are no better satisfied than when you 
first heard a material description of spirit-life. Such points I 
have never touched and will not now, for I can not give your 
material understanding a correct view of spiritual homes, avo- 
cations, and employments. Rest quietly on that point, my 
brother, until you come over, and you will then understand how 
difficult it is to instruct the material mind in regard to spirit 
surroundings. 

" The time has come when mankind must know the truth. 
Spirits are striving hard to make it shine in letters which can 



308 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

be known and read of all men. You, my brother, must stand 
by the truth, let others fly as wide as the universe from it. Un- 
believers in God, and His mighty power to save to the utter- 
most, should never raise their voices, when they stand upon 
holy ground where God and angels meet for the salvation of 
men, and make the will of the Divine manifest through such 
agents as consecrate their spirits to God and the good of His 
creatures. 

" I try to impress you often when you know it not. You 
feel an impulse to drive away wrong impressions by calling 
the minds of your hearers from infidel teachings, to the pure 
and holy Gospel taught by Jesus of Nazareth, whom Qod ap- 
proved in mighty workings of power. Be not weary ; the time 
is short in which you have to work on the mortal plane. Do 
your work well, for angels are guiding your footsteps, lest you 
dash your foot against a stone, and thereby fall from the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus. You must array yourself in 
battle panoply and be always ready to speak when the enemy 
invades the territory which Christ conquered by the will and 
power given of the Father. You are His representative in this 
generation as His apostles were in that immediately succeeding 
His earthly ministry. Never yield the faith you possess, and 
when you pass from the earth-sphere, you will find the rich re- 
ward promised to the faithful steward. I bid you good-night. 

" Moses Brock." 

We were intimate with our friend for many years. He spent 
much time with our family when Presiding Elder of this dis- 
trict ; was one of the first preachers we ever conversed with 
upon the subject when table-tippings were first known in this 
country in 1852. 

u Have been silent for some time because of other controls 
who were interested as well as I in spreading spiritual light and 
truth. I now come to add my testimony to that of others, 
who, from the spirit-world, see the study of man's creation is 



Plain Talk from an Old Friend. 309 

more interesting to many minds than that of his salvation. I 
will state at the outset that science is running wild upon the 
display of knowledge gained through its developments. It 
leads to materialism rather than a belief in the infinite and 
mighty power of God, who is spirit, and controls all matter by. 
the power which spirit possesses over it. 

li God breathes upon every atom of matter, and makes it 
praise Him in wonderful manifestations. Matter does not 
possess life, but is only the manifest result of spirit power. 
The world to-day is failing to be enlightened, because of the 
great interest in material things to the neglect of the ' better 
part,' which Jesus told Martha Mary had chosen. She loved 
the Master, not on account of the miracles He performed, 
but because of the great spiritual elevation His teachings made 
her feel in that God-like germ within her expansive soul. 
Martha was more material in her thoughts and feelings. Jesus 
intended to arouse her to a consciousness of the fact, when He 
said to her, ' Thou art cumbered about many things.' He 
knew the material was better left unstudied, than to absorb the 
soul's aspirations after the one great truth, which Mary sought 
and learned from Him. Martha learned nothing of the inner 
life and its connection with the Father through Jesus Christ, 
whom He had sent into the world to teach all who would learn 
of Him. 

" * To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to 
become the sons of God.' He gave them power, how ? By 
conferring or transmitting the knowledge He had received, be- 
cause of His mediatorial office, and being the incarnation of 
God's Spirit, which was all knowledge and wisdom. He gave 
them power by conferring or transmitting the gifts which He 
possessed, as the sign of God that His works should manifest 
His power. He sealed the works of Christ with the signet of 
truth. 

" When He commissioned His successors, He told them ' to 
go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ; 



310 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

he that belie veth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that 
believeth not shall be damned.' Condemned- — it should read. 
Condemned whenever the signs were not manifest, as that fact 
was to follow faith. Where no sign was, there was no faith, 
and condemnation followed as an inevitable result. Thus you 
see from this rendering of the text that water baptism was not 
meant, for that could never cast out devils nor heal the sick. 
It was spiritual baptism that 'was to manifest itself in signs and 
wonders, so that the unbelieving, might be made to believe for 
the ' very works' sake.' 

" If Jesus had intended to teach material science He would 
not have worded the commission as He did, but would have 
said, Go dig into the bowels of the earth, for therein lie 
evidences of the truth of my teachings. It is the Spirit of God 
that tells man his wrongs, instructs, elevates, and damns (con- 
demns). I thus speak of material science, because the human 
mind is being led away from the study of those spiritual laws 
which bind him to his Creator and Benefactor. I caution my 
mortal friends against too much concern about that which is 
detrimental to the soul's expansion, and fills the brain with 
speculative philosophy, which, in its turn, becomes speculative 
dogmatism. True religion is not dogmatic, while creedism is 
oftentimes so. True religion is as broad as the world, and as 
deep as the sea. True religion is born of God, and elevates 
every soul who feels its hallowed impulses, to that commun- 
ion which God designs to effect by making His angels ministers 
to teach the way of truth. 

" Many scoff at the idea of the so-called dead returning 
to earth, tipping tables, etc., etc. They do these things to 
arrest the material mind on its own plane, and then direct it 
by the light of truth to a spiritual understanding of their mis- 
sion. When spirits come in this way, it is to accomplish the 
same object Jesus Christ had in teaching His followers by 
parables. He could have reached their material minds in no 
other way than by illustrations with which they were familiar. 



Plain Talk from an Old Friend. 311 

Then the way was opened for the induction of spiritual revela- 
tions. 

" 1 will now give way for another control. Good-night. 

tm Moses Brock." 

From an old Methodist preacher of this city : 

" My heart, while I was in the body, was grieved, because of 
the evil deeds of those who did not love God, and feel the im- 
portance of the soul's salvation. Now, my spirit leaves its 
bright and beautiful abode, to come to earth. For what do I 
come ? Not because I need the aid of mortals so much, but 
to give them the true light which lighteth every man that Com- 
eth into the world. All day long I stretch my spirit-hands 
earthward, hoping to lay them upon some head, and thereby 
stimulate the brain, so as to make them the medium through 
which I can communicate the glad tidings of joy that the un- 
derstanding of the great laws God has ordained to fit His 
creatures for the eternal inheritance, vouchsafed to them 
through the mediumship of His dearly beloved Son. 

"The spirit-world is full of those who know not Christ as 
their advocate, because of the violation of those spiritual laws 
which God ordained to prepare them for the near relationship 
of 'joint heirs' with Him in the love and heritage of God His 
Father. You, my friend, possess the gift of mediumship 
through which souls ordained to eternal life, by the will of God, 
because of obedience to His will and commandments, can give 
the light which was to be the life of men. You are developing 
slowly, but surely. Take care of your health, for that has much 
to do with mediumistic gifts, so far as their development to 
benefit the world is concerned. Take all the exercise you can 
bear ; and always find something to enjoy if possible. This 
leads the mind into that freedom from care which is necessary 
to control. 

" My old friend, with whom I was associated in the body, 
and whose kindness I so often enjoyed, must not be forgotten 



312 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

I come to earth to aid you in the great struggle through which 
you are passing. Bright will be your crown of rejoicing when 
we meet on the shores of immortality. Let your soul be the 
temple of God by keeping it free from the corrupt influences 
that have attached to the glorious cause of Spiritualism ; cor- 
rupt influences, I mean, coming from those who are Spiritual- 
ists in name, while they deny the power which gives the doc- 
trine of spirit communion its only foundation. God is moving 
upon the minds of His creatures through His angel ministers, 
and will yet so lift the veil that divides spirits and mortals as to 
show how, in the twinkling of an eye, the life of earth is 
changed into the life of spirit. I will come again some time, 
and talk with you. Good-night. David J. Allen." 

From Rev. S. D. Baldwin, D.D., author of " Amegeddon," 
who was our Nashville correspondent, while we edited the 
Memphis Christian Advocate. 

Being desirous to hear from our old friend, we earnestly in- 
voked his presence to give us his present views. On Sunday 
night, August 5th, our home medium was controlled and wrote 
the following, giving some tests of his identity of a very satis- 
factory character. We leave all to exercise their judgment, 
without offering any opinion ourselves : 

" My theory in regard to the meaning of the prophecies of 
Daniel is fast being fulfilled. I know I was impressed by angel 
wisdom when my mind was directed to write that book. I was 
a believer while in the body in angel ministration and the com- 
munion of loved ones from the other side of Jordan, but was 
afraid to declare my belief, for the world and the Church 
thought me "crazy. Crazy I was, if the glorious light of spirit 
presence and a conscious knowledge of it constitutes insanity. 

" Brother Watson, the time is coming when the Church which 
you and I served so long and faithfully, will advocate the same 
doctrine you now preach. The truth will shine from every 
spire and tower. The pulpit will blaze with spirit inspiration, 



Rev. S. D. Baldwin. 313 

and then the ignoble word crazy will be remembered no more ; 
for all who love the Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospel truths He 
gave to the world, will preach and serve God in the spirit and 
with the understanding. Then all shall know what the power 
of the spirit is, when conditions are such as to enable them to 
use the elements necessary for their manifestation. I am talk- 
ing a little incoherently to-night, but you must remember my 
nature and mind were rather eccentric, and no other sort of 
communication would be characteristic of Baldwin. My book 
will be read with interest now. The signs of the times point to 
the fulfillment of its contents. Russia, England, and other 
powers will engage in mortal combat, but the end will come, 
and then will come the dawn. of the mellennium. Spiritualism 
is the harbinger of the light and knowledge which will envelope 
the world, and man will no more desire his brother's blood. 
Mankind will recognize one common Father — that His laws are 
immutable, and for their violation the penalty must be suffered. 
That no wrong-doing can be canceled but by the perpetra- 
tor's paying the debt of recompense in the sphere of darkness 
and misery. 

u I can not control as I would. You must make your family 
sittings more varied ; then the mediums will receive impres- 
sions like the electric flashes which foretell the coming cloud. 
I know system in many things, and really in most matters, is 
necessary ; but in mediumship, where the mind is the channel 
through which the communications come, there should be per- 
fect passivity. This can not always be so. When it is other- 
wise, the communications are not so reliable, for distracting or 
contending controls interfere, and so mix up things the medium 
can scarcely tell whether he or she is controlled by spirits or 
not. I will write again, since you desire my communion — will 
come some time^when you are not looking for me, and when 
the medium least expects my control ; then I will be able to 
write more. Good-night. Baldwin." 

14 



314 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

We have no opinion to offer as to the truthfulness of Mr. 
Baldwin's theory, but give these extracts for our readers as a 
subject for reflection. Mr. Baldwin has certainly been very 
correct in regard to a number of things respecting our govern- 
ment, but whether he has given a correct interpretation respect- 
ing the nations of Europe, and what is to be the final result in 
the establishment of a "millennial republic," we leave each 
one to judge from his own stand-point. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THEODORE PARKER, CYRUS 
JEFFRIES, HANNAH MORE, AND ABBIE E. LANSING. 

i% We are ail connected by the reign of power, law, and mind. 
Wheresoever we go — in whatsoever sphere we move — the world 
of matter, the world of man, or the world of God, the same 
great power, law and mind, controls our destinies. We may- 
gather delight from the sphere in which we move, in which 
we have our respective duties to fulfill — our rights to enjoy — 
these joys increasing as our duties are performed. We may 
unite our destinies with the combined spheres of matter, man, 
and God, or content ourselves with the lowest grades of 
human enjoyments, or we may reach out into the great spiritual 
field of truth, to be fed with everlasting food from angel hands. 
It is the complete and perfect spirit that unites all three ; the in- 
finite spark of life ; the divine principle ; the perfect and absolute 
love for the great indweller of our beings — spiritual goodness- 
Through this perfect part — this particle of the Father, God — we 
feel our souls going out in love to Him ; in will-force to serve 
Him ; to worship Him in -spirit and in truth. The pure in 
spirit, the true in heart, worship God from the fullness of love 
he bears His fellow-man. The wild, vague notions of churches 
and creeds in their superstitious fear and fanatic hate, striving 
to love God from the material plane, while they cultivate 
reverence, strive through faith of things hoped for to love God, 
keep themselves forever upon the downward plane because they 
will not let the love of God come out of their hearts in their 

(3i5) 



316 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

love to man. That which man calls God, and looks up to and 
worships, is formed to suit the mind which that man is govern- 
ed by ; he creates his God according to the sphere in which he 
moves, and increases his joys as he finds his pleasure grow 
greater in his trust to his God. The God of Moses was a God 
fond of battle, and battles were fought to appease his anger. 
To-day the world is full of men, who, through bitter invectives 
and unkind feelings toward their fellow-man, feel that they are 
but doing their duty to their God. The God of Genesis gives 
a picture of a created world, an infant in swaddling-clothes, 
created from the fancy of the mind — drawn from the stories of 
ancient Pagan teachings. This child does not grow — the 
churches keep him in his babyhood. The increase of the 
minds who have united the material, the human, and the 
divine, demand a wider and more natural creation of humanity. 
From the world of matter they gather facts that bring, through 
nature's God, the true conception of the human race. Rocks, 
rivers, the ocean, with its coral caves, the high heavens, with 
their glittering, dancing stars, speak of a power who never 
violated a law ; a true God, who, as Father of all, governs 
through love, in union with His divine attributes, that are shown 
through the workings of matter upon the great throbbing bosom 
of mother earth. 

" As the soul strives to lift itself into the higher walks of 
nature, the law of mind will increase, until through the union 
of the three great spheres in which mortals move, the life-in- 
spiring principle will come, increasing our love, until the God- 
will within will show through good deeds as shines the morning 
light upon some fair flower. As we move through the sphere 
of life so we must find a respective sphere in the life to come. 
The controlling power of law and mind governs. Lift your- 
selves by the law of progression out of the uncertain grooves 
of your life plane, and let the mind expand and gain power, 
and you will attain a clearer and nearer road to God ; and the 
duties increasing through love will bring added joys. Let the 






Communication from Cyrus Jeffries 317 

ruling power of your souls govern all. Rely upon that divine 
presence that is within your own soul, the eternal word of God, 
that which speaks through the inner life, the faculties He has 
given you — Truth. Let there ever be a union of all planes, of 
all laws, and all gospels, for in all lies a portion of the true 
Scriptures. From the teachings of the Jews may be gathered 
much of good ; Phoenician laws have their lights that it were 
well to keep burning ; from the fount of inspiration that rilled 
the soul of Moses Jesus drank, while their teaching differed as 
differs one star from another in its glory. But the Father was 
in all, and Jesus, with His pure, loving heart, gathered the 
purest of the gems that fell from the gatherings of Moses. Let 
the life of forms and useless words pass away ; move your 
altars of stone and wood and build altars of good deeds, that 
live long after the wood and stone have decayed. Govern your 
life by the great power of love, that the law may be perfected 
and the mind filled with the holy principle of well-doing, until 
you so perfect your sphere that matter and man may receive 
the influx of God, the Father and mother of all principles." 

The following is an extract from a communication addressed 
to our home medium : 

" I want now to tell you and your brother of my entrance 
into spirit-life. My spirit was filled with such an influx of joy, 
from the celestial spheres conveyed by the spirits of the just 
and good, that I was lost and bewildered for a time in the 
glorious light and beauty spread out before my spiritual vision. 
My loved ones, as well as those to whom I was bound in earth- 
life by the ties of spirit affinity, ushered me into the beautiful 
realm of spirits and bade me to drink from the fountain of 
purity and wisdom. I drank of that spiritual rock which is 
Christ, and can never thirst again ; for the water of life which 
He taught me was free for all is constantly before me a living 
reality. No faith, but knowledge, which makes faith full frui- 
tion. 



3i8 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

ie The beauties spread out before my glorified spirit are far 
beyond anything mortal mind can conceive. I often thought 
while in the body that spirits should be more explicit in giving 
information about the life and ^surroundings of spirits. But 
now I can only say as others have done. No mortal mind can 
conceive nor understand the joys, and beauties, and loveliness 
which await the soul whom God has honored with His image, 
and whose obedience and faith, and the constant exercise of 
those virtues, has accomplished His mission on earth by 
righting the good fight and laying up treasures in heaven. My 
soul doth magnify the Lord, and in His presence my spirit is 
full of boundless love. In His ways I meditate, and glorify the 
power which moves the mighty universe of law. The laws J 
studied and found unalterable while in the body, reach every 
atom of spiritual realms. 

u Press forward, my friends, in the good work of enlightening 
and doing good, and God will bring you up higher when the 
lamp of mortal life shall burn out, and spiritual life shall catch 
the expiring flame, and burst forth with brilliancy increased an 
hundredfold. I love to visit your home circle, and aid you to 
understand the laws which prevail in the glorified spheres. Be 
patient and let your light shine as you receive wisdom from the 
land above where all is'harmony and love. 

"Cyrus Jeffries." 

hannah more. 

a Kind friends, I come from the shores celestial with a prayer 
in my heart and upon my lips — a prayer for the success of the 
great and good work in which you are engaged. You have 
desired that some one from spirit shores would give you 
the true definition of prayer, its benefits to humanity, and in 
what way it reaches the Great Spirit. 

" Prayer is the true inspiration of the soul. It comes through 
all natious as the prompting or quickening of the inner life. 
Its expressions are modified as vary the degrees of mind from 



Communication from Hannah More. 319 

which the desires flow. The hearts that yearn for spiritual 
food send out their longings through the avenues of the soul. 
From the pent-up thoughts burst forth praises, expressed in 
terms of adoration to that Great Being who has beautified all 
earth. The hearts that are sore and weary, pleadingly send 
forth their thoughts in prayer, gaining strength as through the 
spiritual gate of the soul the gentle harmonious influence of min- 
istering angels baptizes all with the soothing influence of the 
Great Spirit, that through them by perfect laws acts upon mor- 
tals. Aspiration, or prayer, is necessary to spiritual growth. 
It brings the children of earth en rapport with the more perfect 
or advanced of the spirit-plane. It lives in the organism of 
earth's children to a greater or less degree, as the apex, or 
mental, active part, the brain, may be developed. It is from 
the grand temple of the spiritual element where the vestal flame 
is burning, and as the priestess of the soul watches, so burns 
the flame. If the aspirations be high, seeking with pure spirit 
for divine truths, the vestal flame throws its light abroad over 
the land to glorify all life. 

" True devotion is the silent prayer, shutting from the phys- 
ical senses outer thoughts, that the inner or spiritual may 
quicken, as the infinite sends its radiance in upon the temple. 
The baptism then received sanctifies and makes perfect the 
body. The holy magnetism of ministering angels falls in re- 
fulgence over the spiritual, and brings a foretaste of joys 
supernal. 

" Prayer, in its aspirations for truth, is spirit communion ; 
it is that perfect love by which the spiritual nature can be cul- 
tivated — the most perfect means of a divine influence, that 
lifts the spirit of man from earth and its surroundings to enjoy 
heavenly bliss. 

"To become spiritualized, that you may enjoy the divine 
rapture of heaven, you must listen to the voice of God in the 
soul, calling through His ministering spirits that you come up 
higher, Step by step advance, prompted by the perfect in- 



320 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

tuitions of the soul, the vestal fire that awaits the fan of true 
aspirations to give it power to blaze aloft, consuming the dross 
of your nature, where the lower passions revel, and lifting you 
out, as pure metal from the crucible. 

" Watch the flowers, as their petals upward turn to catch the 
glory of the sun, and drink the life-sustaining influence from its 
rays, and from them you learn that the power of glory, the great 
Center of all, draws by His influence the heart of the flowers 
toward Him. The trees, with their garland-crowned branches 
reaching upward, point as if in supplication to a higher power 
from whence comes true strength. 

" Prayer is the aspiration of the soul, the golden gateway 
through which the inner senses pass to mingle with the spiritual 
essence of the divine. It harmonizes the man, softens his 
stern nature, enables him to feel the electric power of the 
angel hosts, and for the time to feel the kingdom of God with- 
in. Let your lives be one constant prayer, that you may al- 
ways feel His presence through the influence of His minister- 
ing angels, who will give you the soul-stirring prayer to live as 
you preach, and make your prayer full of deeds that shall bring 
the Father's kingdom on earth. All perfect lives are prayers, 
and bring with them, the Great Spirit. They show the God- 
spirit, or perfect part of their natures, and add to and increase 
their spiritual lives. The man or woman who lives one holy 
prayer, by a constant life of good deeds, hallows the name of 
our Father, brings His kingdom upon earth, receives each 
day from the Infinite his spiritual food, which enables him to 
forgive those who trespass against him, has the power to resist 
evil by his own great desire to make all perfect that are im- 
perfect — perfect as to the laws and the desires of the spiritual 
kingdom. 

"Every wish that's framed within the mind, 
Of high or noble impulse given — 
Every deed of mercy, true and kind, 
Will prove a prayer in heaven," 



Communication from Abbie E. -Lansing. 321 

ABB1E E. LANSING. 

" My friends, from the fair land of Eden I come, with my 
heart full of love. 

" I promised our good friend, Samuel Watson, that from 
time to time 1 would communicate. I know there are many 
who will turn away disappointed when they cast their eyes 
upon my communication. I do not seek into hidden mysteries, 
nor do I dig 'neath the debris of the decayed past for subjects. 
1 find my soul stirred by the sufferings of humanity, and my 
spirit awakened to action by their wants. Wherever I can 
find the most to do I labor, and whenever I am most needed I 
come. Through the influence of the Divine Spirit I am di- 
rected, as the promptings fill my soul I respond, and at the 
awakening of my intuitive powers my soul reaches out toward 
its mission. 

"■My spirit is made sad and my heart wrapped in gloom 
when I see the strong influence which the undeveloped and 
unregenerated spirits have upon a great number of Spiritualists. 

" The theories which they put forth are filled with dark- 
stained atheism, the idea of prayer is laughed to scorn, and the 
name of God looked upon as a myth. Jesus, the gentle 
Teacher, is classed with rude, coarse men, whose lives are full 
of sin. Everything which tends to improve and advance the 
life of man unto perfection is looked upon as weak and idle 
fancies, growing out of the orthodox element which still clings 
to the Spiritualists who teach the perfect principle of Christ. 
How mistaken are the souls who are thus led into the wild 
whirl of radical impulses ! 

" All the perfect teachings of spirit controt but lead you into 
higher and better lives, guide you into the purer paths, which 
bid you keep your soul in perfect trust through a constant 
desire for the right and a never-ending prayer of good deeds 
and noble works. 

"Prayer lifts the soul above the gross desires of earth, and 
14* 



322 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

brings the suppliant in closer communion with the God-giving 
Spirit. It softens the coarse element which surrounds the 
earth, and keeps the heart constantly desiring for good deeds. 
Without it, man is ever like the shifting sail, moving from side to 
side. With no trust but that with which fortune may favor him, 
his life is dark. He appeals to no one. Within his own soul lie 
all the cares and all the ills of his unhappy life. He has no 
voice to supplicate, sees no power save that which his own will 
may create. His guardian spirits,- like himself, are constantly 
preaching that the only law by which man is governed is man, 
and he is ever denouncing all who do not, like himself, believe 
in the right to act regardless of principle or law. Wherever his 
fancy leads him he strays, feeds upon his lust, and cries, There 
is no God ! He makes for himself a hell upon earth, knowing 
not that the laws of progression are to develop and increase 
the perfect principle of nature, and the Light of Life is God, 
a perfect Spirit, to be worshiped in spirit and truth, and that 
Jesus, feeling the influence of the Spirit, perfected His life unto 
graciousness, that those who followed Him might see the per- 
fect peace which came from a pure spiritual life and a constant 
prayer of holy aspirations, seeking for that goodness which is 
of God, and by which alone man can attain happiness. 

" Many of us here are working to establish a true and pure 
spiritual element in your midst. We desire to lift you up, and 
aid you in establishing a Church which shall be seen from afar 
off, founded upon the rock of truth, far above creeds and false 
assertions. Aided by the ministering spirits in do'ng good, 
you will draw from out the pits of sin the unfortunate of earth 
and show them where the light is, and how their prayers may 
reach the land of spirits, that infinite goodness of an Infinite 
Mind may reflect through the finite nature of man and de- 
lineate the perfect precepts of the Master, who taught them 
that the kingdom of God was within them, and that by their 
deeds the world should know them. 

This Church, which is to be the Harmonial Temple, is to be 



Communication from Abbie E. Lansing. 2> 2 S 

founded upon the pure teachings of Jesus, to be sustained 
through good deeds, and illumed by the light of love which is 
from God. 

" Its gates are to swing wide open to all of God's children, 
regardless of sect or creed, and the spiritual food is to be given 
to all who hunger. 

4t As the sunlight of heaven is free to all, so let the sunlight 
of advanced thoughts and true teachings be dispensed to all 
who seek. Ask them not whence they come or who they are. 
God and the angel world know them, and they enter the Har- 
monial Temple to find that which has been denied them else- 
where. Help them, and God will help you. Remember there 
is something good in all, and if you would lift the shadows you 
must bear the light. Let your lives be filled with prayer and 
your love of God increase, until goodness shall guide you into 
the paths which Jesus trod, and His Spirit show through all." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED THROUGH MRS. KATIE B. 
ROBINSON, OF 2 1 23 BRANDYWINE STREET, PHILA- 
DELPHIA. 

In company with Dr. Child, we visited this medium our 
second day in Philadelphia. She had no idea who we were ; 
the Doctor told her we were a friend from the country. Soon 
she was entranced by her control, u White Feather," who 
seemed to know a great deal about our antecedents and asso- 
ciations. We have never heard so many incidental tests given 
in so short a time. It was wonderful beyond anything we ever 
realized with any medium. We have not the space to give to 
them, but if we had never known anything else than what she 
gave us, no theory but the spiritual can explain it. Reference 
was had to the part of our life which no mortal knew save our- 
self, and some things that had passed from memory's page. 
The present status and future prospects of Spiritualism, and our 
relation to it, were referred to in a manner calculated to make 
a lasting impression upon our mind. 

Jesse B. Ferguson then controlled her, and Dr. Child 
took it down. Our son John then controlled her for some 
time, most affectionately referring to them in a way that no 
other person could. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks while 
she spoke of his happiness in the spirit-world, and in meeting 
the large number of relatives who had passed over before him. 

What a glorious privilege is this ! — that there are those whose 
organisms can be controlled by our friends, so that they can 
(324) 



Communications through Mrs. K. B. Robinson. 325 

talk to us as in earth-life. This lady possesses that God-given 
power to as great an extent as any we have ever seen. 

After she returned to her normal state the Doctor intro- 
duced us to her, and it seemed strange that one who had 
spoken so familiarly to us should now know nothing of what 
she had said, nothing at all about our history. 

" It is appropriate and beautiful for our morning stance, this 
lovely spring morning, for with it comes a bright and beautiful 
influence. Nothing pleases us as the guides of the medium 
more than to meet with honest, noble pioneers, with those who 
love the cause of true Spiritualism, When we go back in the 
records of Spiritualism, we remember just such circles as this, 
where they seemed to appreciate the importance of this subject, 
and for the moment were willing to leave all earthly cares be- 
hind, and gather together, even as the apostles gathered in the 
days of long ago. Where people come together with honest 
aspirations, and their souls go out after the powers that are 
everywhere demonstrating themselves in this day, they will re- 
ceive a blessing. There are many of the old pioneers of 
Spiritualism here ready to meet you to-day, and talk with you 
as they have in days gone by. They have seen the trials 
through which you have passed, and they know that they are 
necessary for your development. It is very pleasant for these 
to meet with you here, and they bring a beautiful gift to you 
all. Soft and silent are the footsteps that come with bless- 
ings to you. 

" Spiritualism is the grandest gift God has ever given to the 
world. It is going forth everywhere, feeding the starving mul- 
titude ; it is going into the churches, and among all denomina- 
tions. There are those who are grappling with and trying to 
understand the power which it is bringing i» to their midst. 
You have aided the spirit-world in bringing this light into the 
world, and when you enter into that world you will be crowned 
with laurels. There are friends here who bid each one of you 
welcome. There is one here ready to greet you with a kindly 



326 The Religion of Spiritualism 

smile ; it is Robert Dale Owen. He tells us to report him, 
and say I knew you were to meet here in the upper chamber. 
I realize that I live, and how thankful I am my work on earth 
is done ; and yet in spirit how oft to this life I come ! How 
beautiful the idea of this world, far beyond anything that I con- 
ceived of while on earth, and the further I progress the more 
wonderful does it appear in its perfection ! I assure you that 
the position which I took in eartl>life in defense of modern 
Spiritualism has helped me in this life, and I would say to all, 
be true to your highest convictions, and you will realize the 
crown of everlasting life. 

"Judge Edmonds comes hand in hand with Robert Dale 
Owen. He wishes each one to know that you have the loving 
sympathy of the spirit-world, and he bids you go on in the 
work, remembering that amidst all the war of persecution the 
cause of Spiritualism is still onward and upward, and the 
glorious truths of divine immortality are being established be- 
yond a doubt. Your mediums are many of them passing away 
to the better world ; the pioneers of Spiritualism are coming 
over to us one by one; but we rejoice to know -that new 
mediums and new speakers are being developed and called into 
the field, and that in the future greater and grander truths will 
be given to the world. Spirits innumerable are crossing the 
river you call death, but which we call life, and giving to mor- 
tals descriptions of spirit-life. I am glad I took the stand I 
did in life, and avowed my belief in Spiritualism. Brother Tal- 
mage and I are here, together with many others." 

Jesse B. Ferguson said : 

" Brother Watson, God bless you ; you have been true, and 
many people know that you are true. Many may oppose 
your ideas, but you have done a great deal of good in your 
labors — you have explained the Scriptures, and in that way you 
have reached the hearts and homes of many, and they perceive 
your power and your knowledge. Your work on earth will not 



Communications through Mrs. K. B. Robinson. 327 

be finished until greater and grander truths are presented to 
the world through you. 

" It is a great treat to me to be able thus to speak to you. I 
have often controlled Mrs. Hawks. I like her organism. I 
am glad you have taken the position you have in regard to 
spirit materialization. The spirit- world has been experimenting 
on that subject, and the people were so determined to have it 
that they would not wait for the proper development, and the 
result was that the manifestations have been very much mixed, 
and they are not satisfactory to us nor you. I believe the day 
is not far distant when, in the broad noonday sun your spirit 
friends will appear outside of boxes, curtains, and cabinets, and 
everything of the kind ; they will come out and be seen by all 
and speak to you in unmistakable language. I believe that God 
is ready to answer the earnest desire of mankind to have this 
ocular and absolute demonstration of spirit power and presence. 
But this must come from high and holy principles ; there must 
be no leaders to draw this way or that, but there must be a gen- 
eral spirit of sympathy and love. The mediums and the investi- 
gators must be actuated by honest and pure, motives, so that 
spirits of high order can come and materialize. All that has 
been done has been but as rough sketches and outlines of what 
we desire to do, but these crude forms were necessary as a be- 
ginning. The world is being prepared for higher and better 
presentations than these, and they would have been presented 
before this if the people had been wise enough to have aided 
us instead of running so eagerly after that which was crude, im- 
perfect, and often false. Within five years the world will pass 
through a change. The people are progressing daily ; no mat- 
ter how skeptical they may be, all have a desire for these things 
to be demonstrated to them clearly, and to accomplish this the 
angel armies are marshaling their hosts ; they are working every- 
where among the people in all the churches and out of them. 
Henry C. Wright is here. He says the Spiritualists were often 
too impatient, demanding tests continually from the spirit- 



328 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

world, and were not satisfied unless they had these. Willie 
Davenport is here, and many others who desire to greet you." 
White Feather now greeted us cordially and said: "Here 
comes John, he puts his arm around your neck and says, ' My 
father, God bless you.' There is a Moliie with him, and a 
squaw, Teketa. There is the spirit of a dear old man comes 
to you, his hair was brushed back, he died in that place where 
you live. He was a big man in the place. His face is smooth, 
and his top head is bald. He did not believe in Spiritualism, 
though he had many talks with you. Aunt Sallie is here. She 
is a very pretty spirit. John Wesley is here. There is a dear 
little boy, not more than four or five years old." 

May 10th, 1878. 

Something was said about the wonderful phenomena of Spir- 
itualism, when the control said : 

" Nothing is wonderful, all things are natural. The time is 
not far distant when the phenomena you call Spiritualism will 
be better understood everywhere. It has come to you in an 
humble way, but. it is the light and religion of the world for 
future ages. Amid all the warring and disputing of skepticism, 
like a bright twinkling star it is shining most beautifully, and 
revealing the divine and glorious truths of spirit communion. 
Amid all these strange revelations and scientific facts that you 
are gathering to-day, there is one thing to be remembered, 
Spritualism is intended to free every human soul ; to enlighten 
every human mind; to dispel the darkness of bigotry, igno- 
rance, and prejudice ; to educate every human being so that 
they may comprehend the truths that are adapted for their de- 
velopment in the most beautiful manner. Vast and beautiful 
is the power we see coming with Spiritualism. That which you 
have received and endeavored to understand in the last thirty 
years, is but a smill item to what is yet to come. We know 
the day is near at hand when all will see for themselves evi- 
dence and proofs far beyond anything you have ever yet 

4 



Letter from Colonel Kase. 329 

known. There never was a spirit mother who returned to greet 
her children in earth-life, but what it' gave pleasure to that child 
when it understood it was its mother. We know that every 
family that receives and understands this truth is made happier 
and better by it. We welcome you to-day. Each one of you 
is sowing seeds by the wayside ; each one of- you have been 
chosen instruments to extend toward earth's children these 
beautiful truths and ideas that are to bless the people. The 
mediums and writers through which these phenomena have been 
given to the world are passing away, but future generations will 
take up the books and papers and read each name with sacred 
feelings, and bless them for the good work they have done. 
To-day these are not understood or appreciated, but when your 
forms are laid away, and your spirits are enjoying the world of 
peace and love, then you will look back to earth and see the 
fruits of your labor, your suffering, and the earnest efforts you 
have made to spread the truth. You are right in demanding 
clear and positive tests of the truths that you are to give forth. 
One tiny evidence of a positive and unmistakable character is 
better than a thousand doubtful ones." 

I take the liberty of inserting the following letter from Col. 
Kase : 

" 1 60 1 N. 15TH St., Philadelphia, ) 
"May 22, 1878. \ 

" Dr. Samuel Watson : — Respected Sir : I feel it my duty 
to give the following narrative for the benefit of those who stop 
to reflect upon the conditions of life here and hereafter, hoping 
this may reach the hardened mind, whose action has caused 
such suffering to two persons — one in the physical form, the 
other, a Dr. Lee, in the spirit-world. 

II And before giving the facts as they occurred, I will briefly 
state that, yesterday, Mr. Samuel Watson, of Memphis, Tenn., 
Mrs. Kase, Mary Holien, and Mrs. Beach, paid a visit to the 
institution for the insane, Philadelphia, which institution is a 
model of cleanliness and apparent" good order. Having been 



3$o The Religion of Spiritualism. 

shown through eight wards of the gentlemen's department, the 
party went to the ladies' portion of said institution. There 
seemed to be a great contrast in the general appearance of the 
patients — the ladies seemed much the most gloomy and sad — 
from the outward appearance of the ladies. A Mrs. ■ ■■ ■ 
seemed attracted by Mrs. Kase and ladies, and, being permit- 
ted to occupy the parlors, entered into conversation with our 
party, and detailed, in short, the manner in which she became 
an inmate at this institution. Said that her residence was Cin- 
cinnati ; that she and her husband came, as usual, to Phila- 
delphia ; put up at the Continental, and after being there for 
some time, her husband said he had business at New York, and 
that Mr. Kingsly, the proprietor, wanted the room they occu- 
pied, and they would go to another hotel. She said, as a mat- 
ter of business required his attention to. New York, she readily 
consented to go to another hotel. 

" She was taken to this place ; was met by the landlord, as 
she supposed ; was shown to her apartments, which, she 
thought at the time, did not look much like the apartments of 
so fine a place externally, but supposed it was all right ; that 
after her husband had left, the landlord (as she supposed) 
fetched her a dish of strawberries, and seemed much affected, 
and really burst out crying. She could not understand why he 
seemed so disheartened ; his tears ran in profusion. In a short 
time, eight or ten days, this doctor died, and she then under- 
stood she was in an insane institution ; and has been there for 
twelve years. Her great anxiety to be let out, and manner of 
expostulating for relief, was truly heartrending. 

" Now comes the important lesson. Mr. Gordon — the 
world-renowned Henry Gordon, the medium- — came to stay 
with us one night ; and as we retired late, he was shown to a 
room adjoining my own, occupied by myself and wife. Miss 
Holien, a young lady, an inmate of the family, is also a great 
materializing, mental, and slate-writing medium. She, before 
retiring, came into our room as usual, and was soon entranced 



Letter from Colonel Kase. 331 

by Dr. Lee — the man who had died twelve years since, and 
the man that had charge of this institution at the time this lady 
was brought there. He soon entranced Miss Holien, and, in 
a most pitiful manner, told us how he had been accessory to 
the incarceration of this lady at the institution, and that* his 
conscience had so harassed him for it, that he was in darkness 
in spirit because he had done that for which his conscience had 
continually given him pain, re??iorse, and misery ; and plead 
with us to do nothing that our conscience could not approve ; 
that every word the lady had told us was true, and the remorse 
of conscience was more than he could bear. During which 
time the medium was crying most piteously ; the control left, 
and in a very short time the doctor materialized, came walking 
into our room from the room occupied by Gordon, walked 
around the bed and disappeared into the hall, and shortly re- 
turned through the door he first entered, and raised his hands 
in an imploring attitude, walking backward and forward across 
the room. Very soon after this an old lady spirit entered and 
seemed to busy herself in putting things in order about the 
room. Then a tall lady with flowing robes entered, and passed 
backward and forward across the room, coming up near, and 
putting hands on my head. I recognized this spirit as that of 
my first wife. 

" These wonderful materializations are occurrences every 
few days of different characters, each taking on their peculiari- 
ties which characterized them in the physical form, and speak 
to us in thunder tones a great fact, that as we sow we shall 
reap ; that our every act is an entity, and lives to either bless 
or condemn us in the life to come. S. P. Kase." 

P. S. — I would have you understand that this lady has only 
become a medium within the past five months — a strict mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. As to her gifts, they are numerous, 
and of the most sublime order. She plays the piano, improvises 
the tunes of songs as she plays, and frequently the piano raises 



S3 2 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

up and beats the time perfectly with the music. She goes into 
our cabinet (which is movable, in an upper chamber), and 
spirits materialize and show themselves— as many as ten or 
twelve of an evening — men, women, girls, and children. 

I have seen the Princess, as she is called, come out, lead- 
ing a little child, with another child following, with its hands 
extended toward her, and all three dematerialize in full view in 
front of the curtain ; and in a short time reappear and demate- 
rialize, as above stated. Spirits would be clothed differently — 
some in perfect white ; some partly white and black ; others 
with the snowy whiteness dotted with glittering stars ; others 
in full dress. Flowers strew the table in her presence when 
sitting for that purpose ; independent writing under the table 
without contact. 

The dawn of the millennium is upon us, and ere long we 
shall speak face to face with our friends now clothed in the 
spirit form. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

OPPOSITION TO SPIRITUALISM UNREASONABLE. 

I have been for many years searching diligently for truth, with 
all the facilities at my command. I have been willing to re- 
ceive it from whatever source it may come, knowing that truth 
is eternal, however it may be misrepesented, and that it will 
ultimately triumph over all opposition. I know of nothing 
which has been assailed with more virulence than has modern 
Spiritualism, so-called, and yet it has been known and acknowl- 
edged in all ages, and among all nations, so far as we have been 
able to learn from history. 

It is the voice of God speaking to man through His appoint- 
ed ministering agencies, on subjects of the deepest interest, 
with a fullness and frequency which has increased as genera- 
tions have come upon the face of the earth, until in these lat- 
ter days the veil has been almost withdrawn between the two 
worlds. It is the practical exemplification of the doctrine of 
the " ministry of angels," recognized by the Church in all ages, 
but by some in the present age treated only as a beautiful 
poetic theory. It illumes with celestial light that which many 
regard as enveloped in impenetrable darkness. 

It bridges over the deep, broad, gloomy chasm which sepa- 
rates this world from other spheres of conscious, intelligent life 
in the universe, and inaugurates an era of regular communica- 
tion between embodied and disembodied spirits. Thus, deal- 
ing with matters which intimately and eternally concern all 

(333) 



334 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

men, and supplying, as it declares itself able to do, abundant 
and satisfactory evidence in support of its claims, one would 
have supposed that it would command respectful attention from 
all, and evoke a universal desire to examine its claims to meet 
the acknowledged want of mankind in regard to immortality. 
One would have supposed that a disposition would have been 
evinced to treat it in a spirit of fairness, with a hope that it 
might turn out to be a grand elevating truth, and not a delusive 
and mischievous error. For if it could make good its claims it 
would seem difficult to conceive how any intelligent and un- 
biased mind could question that it would in every sense be a 
great blessing to the world at large. 

Unfortunately, such is not the spirit in which it has been met. 
Some turn a deaf ear to its divine voice, and close their eyes 
against its celestial light, as a subject that does not interest 
them, and to the truth or falsity of which they are alike indiffer- 
ent. Others (and especially many scientists) treat it in a 
spirit of scorn, and consider it as a matter quite beneath their 
notice. They would deem any time or attention bestowed on 
an investigation of its claims as worse than wasted. There are 
others who have assumed an attitude of decided antagonism 
toward it. The most surprising and painful a fact connected 
with this opposition is that most of it has come from quarters 
whence it ought to have been least expected. Christians and 
materialists have been, and still are, the principal opponents of 
Spiritualism, and from both these classes very different treat- 
ment might have been expected, considering the character of 
the subject it deals with, and the professions it makes concern- 
ing it. 

I copy from the Harbinger of Light, published in Melbourne, 
Australia, what Rev. J. Terryman says upon this subject. He, 
like myself, has had long experience in the Church as a minis- 
ter, and, consequently, is better prepared to judge of these 
matters from actual observation during his ministry, and also 
his knowledge obtained since his connection with the spiritual 



Opposition to Spiritualism Unreasonable. 335 

movement, which he thinks furnishes the only proof of immor- 
tality which the nineteenth century possesses : 

" The opposition of Christians is inconsistent and indefensi- 
ble in a high degree. They believe in a future state, and re- 
gard the doctrine of immortality as one of the most precious 
and consoling parts of their creed. When harassed with the 
temptations and cares, and oppressed by the trials and sorrows 
of the present life, they look forward to the rest that remains for 
the people of God, and are cheered and strengthened by the 
bright visions that open up before them. But they have only 
a belief in and hope of future blessedness ; the better country 
is but a pleasing prospect, which may or may not be realized. 
They have no positive knowledge, no absolute proof of its ex- 
istence, and there are times when the faith of some Christians 
in a life beyond is severely tried, and not a little shaken. In 
spite of themselves, doubts •will rise within them, which cloud 
their prospects and damp their joys. They may attribute those 
doubts to their evil hearts, their carnal reason, the temptation 
of Satan, the skeptical spirit of the age, or what else they choose ; 
but they can not deny them, nor get rid of their disturbing in- 
fluence. Even ministers of the Gospel, after having preached 
the doctrine of immortality for years, have been known to ex- 
press doubts as to its truth, and have passed away under a 
cloud of uncertainty. And seeing that their chief authority for 
this doctrine — the Bible — is being rigorously assailed on every 
side, is it surprising that such doubts exist in considerable 
force ? even under the cover of professed belief. 

" But even if there were no doubts on the subject in the 
ranks of Christians, our friends are aware that very many out- 
side their ranks entertain grave doubts, and not a few have 
reached the point of total denial. The usual array of meta- 
physical speculations and theological arguments, crowned by 
the imposing authority of the alleged word of God, have utterly 
failed to establish this doctrine to their satisfaction ; or to in a 
reasonable degree neutralize the objections and difficulties 



336 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

which surround it, as it presents itself to their minds. This 
class of unbelievers require evidence on the subject which the 
churches are unable to supply ; and that as a class it is fast 
increasing its numbers and extending its influence, the ortho- 
dox sorrowfully admit. To ignore it is impossible ; to de- 
nounce its unbelief as a sin is not to answer it ; and to convert 
it by the usual religious methods is evidently futile. Something 
more potent than denunciation, more efficacious than prayer, 
and more convincing than the teachings of the Church and the 
authority of the Bible, is necessary to win back to a belief in 
immortality the numbers who have rejected that doctrine. 

" Spiritualism professes to prove, by evidence that appeals at 
once to the senses and the judgment, that man has a soul, and 
that at the death of the body it passes on to a state of con- 
scious and immortal life. One would, therefore, have thought 
that Christians would have given the claims of such a system an 
impartial hearing, and have hailed it with delight if it could have 
established them. Those who fully believe in immortality 
would have been all the better for having their faith placed by 
positive demonstration beyond the possibility of being shaken 
or destroyed ; while to those who, in spite of all their piety, 
are at times troubled with serious doubts on the subject, it 
would have been an inestimable blessing to have had those 
doubts dispelled, and the question forever set at rest by the 
irresistible logic of facts. And in addition to this, it would 
have been of incalculable advantage to them in their contest 
with that increasing army of enemies who treat this great doc- 
trine as a delusion. And besides proving the reality of a future 
state, Spiritualism is a revival of super-mundane gifts, and an 
exhibition of spiritual phenomena such as were performed by 
the prophets and apostles of olden times, as the Bible records ; 
which is another reason why it should have met with a favora- 
ble reception at their hands. But alas, with very few excep- 
tions, it has been confronted with determined, and in some 
cases bitter and unscrupulous, opposition. Some of the hard- 



Opposition to Spiritualism Unreasonable. 337 

est, vilest, falsest things ever said against it have been uttered 
by clerical lips, and in the absence of any personal knowledge 
of the subject. It is true it was not born in the churches nor 
introduced to the public under orthodox patronage. Nay, it 
even challenged some of the teachings of the churches. Bat 
that did not justify their opposition to what professed to be a 
system of facts, and to offer ocular proof of the truth of a vital 
doctrine. And the history of orthodox opposition to other 
systems professedly based on facts ought to have been a warn- 
ing to them, and at least have induced an attitude of suspended 
judgment until the new claimant had had a fair hearing at the 
bar of public opinion ; but it did not. Their opposition, how- 
ever, is futile, and will recoil upon themselves. Facts will 
conquer them ; there are already signs of giving way. Leading 
minds in their ranks are admitting either the whole or part of 
the claims of Spiritualism ; and the time will assuredly come 
when its truth will be admitted in all the churches, and emo- 
tions of mingled surprise and pain will be felt that believers in* 
immortality should have rejected the only proof of it which the 
nineteenth century possessed. 

" With regard to the opposition of materialists, I will only 
say a word or two at present. I have considerable sympathy 
for them in their difficulties, on the subject of a future state. 
The evidences that satisfy so many on the doctrine of immortal- 
ity do not convince their judgment. They reject that doctrine 
from a stern intellectual necessity, and yet that is no doubt in 
many cases a painful and unpleasant necessity. I can not be- 
lieve that the majority of materialists are indifferent about the 
final destiny of themselves and those they dearly love — as to 
whether life has to be forever extinguished in death, or per- 
petuated eternally beyond the grave. And there are probably 
times when certain deep-rooted sentiments of their being come 
into conflict with the conclusions of their reason, and inspire 
the wish for, if they do not suggest the possibility of, a future 
state of conscious and unending life. 



338 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" Now, Spiritualism is just such a system as ought to meet 
any reasonable demands the materialist has to make. From the 
first, instead of asking for a belief in immortality on the usual 
traditional and authoritative grounds which orthodoxy insists 
on, it has professed to demonstrate it by the most conclusive 
of all evidences, namely, communications from, and actual 
appearances of, departed spirits. And it has submitted its facts 
to the scrutiny of the senses and the tests of science, and its 
philosophy to the tribunal of reason, with a willingness that be- 
tokened the utmost confidence in the results of a full and im- 
partial investigation of. its claims. And I submit that in thus 
proposing to supply the very evidence of a future state which 
materialists asked the churches for, but could not get there- 
from ; and in openly challenging them to a fair examination of 
its credentials, it has at least entitled itself to respectful treat- 
ment at their hands, instead of that scornful and contemptuous 
opposition and abuse with which many of them have met it. 
A few have accepted its challenge, and, with scarcely an excep- 
tion, they have become convinced of its truth. I can not but 
hope that the rest will go and do likewise ; and the more so 
because they profess to be Freethinkers ; and Spiritualism in 
its principles and teachings is essentially a freethought move- 
ment. One thing is certain, that Spiritualism being so largely 
a system of facts, it will ultimately command universal assent, 
whatever may be the attitude toward it of the materialists of the 
present day." 

THE CHURCH'S PAST AND PRESENT. 

The Church professes to believe that her religion is a revela- 
tion from God, introduced into the world and established by 
wonderful miracles and remarkable spirit manifestations and 
power, and that this spirit-life has been the peculiar inheritance 
of God's people in every age ; that they attend the spread and 
growth of Christian principles as a natural or logical sequence. 
Is there not a marvelous discrepancy between what the 



The Church's Past and Present. 339 

Church professes to believe and teach, and real faith and prac- 
tice in relation to spiritual truths ? While she clings to the 
spiritual facts of the past, she rejects those of the present that 
are of kindred character and power — manifestations of the 
natural growth of spiritual principles in the world. While she 
quotes St. Paul as the highest authority, and the clearest ex- 
pounder of the Christian religion, when she wishes to teach a 
doctrine or enforce a dogma, she repudiates to a great extent 
the earnest exhortation of this apostle to seek after spiritual 
gifts. He says, " Now there are diversities of gifts, but the 
same Spirit ; and there are differences of administrations, but 
the same Lord ; and there are diversities of operations, but it 
is the same God which worketh in all ; but the manifestation 
of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal." The great 
apostle of the Gentiles wisely advises the Christians of his day 
to exercise caution in their investigation and use of spirit 
manifestations and power — to '' prove all things, and hold fast 
to that which is good." 

How does the Church comply with this injunction at the 
present time ? Is there any liberty in the Christian Church of 
to-day for the exercise of these spiritual gifts, which were made 
the tests of Christian faith in the primitive Church ? Do not 
those who are endowed with those gifts, if they happen to be- 
long to some branch of the Church, guard them carefully from 
their brethren, for fear of misapprehension, persecution, and 
reproach ? While the Church constantly exhorts her members 
to attain spiritual growth and newness of life, she is startled 
out of her proprieties when she witnesses the manifestations of 
spiritual life among them. Alas, there is no true freedom 
in these denominational inclosures in the exercise of Christian 
charity upon this subject. The Church not only denies to her 
individual members. freedom to manifest the gifts of the Spirit, 
but she presents the curious anomaly of denying the logical 
results of her own principles. As a natural consequence of 
this false position of the Church to-day, the spiritual life of 



34° The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Christianity is obliged to manifest itself outside of her organiza- 
tions, as in the early days of the first Christian era. The 
spiritual fruit of centuries can not be obliterated, even though 
the body that nurtured its growth becomes its most violent an- 
tagonist. 

The inspired prophecy concerning the wonderful spirit power 
that will be manifested in the reasoning age of the world, will 
be fulfilled in its appointed time, although the Church should 
declaim against it from every point in the land. " It shall 
come to pass in those days," saith the Holy One, " that I will 
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, 
and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and 
on my handmaidens will I pour out in those days of my Spirit, 
and they shall prophesy." The prophetic hour has come. 
The marvelous power of the Spirit is visible in the startling 
phenomena of the times. The grand preparation of heaven 
and earth for the second coming is going rapidly forward. 
But, alas ! the Church, to a very great extent, is deaf to what is 
heard and seen by those whose ears and eyes are open to the 
Spirit manifestations, whilst millions outside her pale are rejoic- 
ing in the truth which has made them free ; indeed, her pulpits 
deal their anathemas upon them for violating an old Israelitish 
statute made for an ignorant horde just emancipated from 
hundreds of years of abject slavery. One of the hundreds of 
these statutes was, the dreamer must be put to death, while the 
prophecy quoted says they " shall dream dreams." The 
Church not only ignores the foundation of her faith — spirit 
manifestations and power — -denying the possibility of the 
signs which Christ himself says shall follow those that believe, 
but she pronounces the wide-spread spirit manifestations to be 
of the devil. 

Both branches of the Christian Church, Romanists and Prot- 
estants, alike denounce the spirit phenomena of the present 
day in the strongest terms of disapprobation. The Pope issues 



The Church's Past and Present. 341 

his bulls declaring them to be wholly of the devil, and forbidding 
the people to have anything to do with them. The Roman 
Catholic priesthood have always claimed the exclusive right to 
spiritual gifts and to the power of working miracles, and they 
do not like to see their monopoly taken from them, or their 
influence weakened. They understand full well that when lay- 
men and the outside world can exercise the same power, 
Othello's occupation will be gone — the priest will no longer be 
the oracle of the people. 

The Hebrew Church was in a condition, when Messiah 
came, to stamp the closing seal of the first dispensation of law 
and authority, and to break the seal of the second dispensation 
of love and free will to man, and to lead the children of Israel 
once more out of the wilderness of forms and ceremonies 
into the king's highway of truth and love, into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God. But they were bound by the 
creed of the Fathers, and would not listen to the voice of their 
Leader. 

The Christian Church is looking forward anxiously for the 
second advent, differing among themselves as to how it will 
come, but like the Jews she is looking, as Christ said to them, 
observing the face of the sky, but does not discern the signs of 
the times. 

Let the Church arise and lay by her sectarian garments, 
even as her mother lays aside the tiny robes of her infant chil- 
dren, to show to coming generations how limited were her ideas 
of the gospel of love before she grew to the full stature of men 
and women. 

Having passed our threescore years, nearly two-thirds of 
which have been spent in the service of the Church, we are 
naturally led to make the inquiry, as did the prophet of olden 
time. For many years we have observed changes silently, yet 
of momentous magnitude, going on in the public mind. We 
are led to ask, What will be the final result of this commotion ? 
We have a theory, by no means original, but we feel inclined 



34 2 • The Religion of Spiritualism. 

to give our views in answer to the interrogatory which stands at 
the head of this article. 

In looking "over the history of the past, we find that the masses 
have been accustomed to " pin their faith " to others, and con- 
fide their spiritual interests to those in ecclesiastical authority. 
This was perhaps unavoidable in the past, but that day has gone 
forever. The influence of authority has become neutralized, and 
is gradually passing away before the higher controj of enlight- 
ened reason. The Church in its childhood and youth has felt 
this influence, but she must now pass on with the world to her 
maturity, to her noble reasoning age. She must free herself from 
her youthful robes of special forms and ceremonies of " the let- 
ter," which inspiration declares, " killeth, but the spirit maketh 
alive." Let her renew herself day by day in the divine life of 
intelligent use and love, and standing firmly on these great and 
indestructible principles, reach forward and upward, that she 
may grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. Then shall 
the prophecy that " the stone shall become a great mountain 
and fill the earth," be fulfilled. 

But before the heart and mind of the Christian Church can 
become as she is destined to be, there will be strong antago- 
nisms between the true and false. This period of her history 
is at hand, as every attentive observer may see by the " signs 
of the times." We are living in the transitory period of the 
reasoning age of the world and of the second Christian era. 
Blind adherence to authority has had its day. Materialistic in- 
fidelity has triumphed over the intellectual portion of the 
nations until it has well-nigh banished the belief in God and 
immortality from their circles. The days of each, we think, 
are well-nigh numbered. Just at the time when there was the 
greatest necessity for it, there arose a powerful agency, which 
we believe is destined to remodel these great antagonistic 
forces, and bring them in harmonious relations to each other. 
When this is fully accomplished, the inspired children of God, 
the spiritual rationalists of the reasoning age of the Church and 



The Church's Past and Present- 343 

the world, will reconstruct from the comprehensive gospel of 
intelligent nature taught by the profound Philosopher of Naza- 
reth, a broader and higher platform of Christian faith and prac- 
tice, which will force conviction upon the minds of the people. 
Then the Sun of Righteousness shall indeed arise and disperse 
the mists of error from materialism, formalism, and radicalism, 
and the mild and genial influence of His rays cause the earth to 
bring forth fruit unto righteousness, and the glorious result shall 
be the universal reign of love to God and good-will to all 
mankind. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The communications below are those received through Dr. 
J. V. Mansfield, the world-renowned test medium. 

We asked no question, wrote no name, and yet there are 
quite a number of tests given, which, to us, are very satisfactory, 
showing that there must have been those present communicat- 
ing whose knowledge of what they wrote could not have been 
possessed by the medium. 

"May 16, 1878. 

" Dear Brother Watson : — My soul rejoices to take you 
by the hand again. It has been some time since we talked 
through this medium. I was this morning talking with your 
friends, Q. C. Atkinson, J. D. Andrews, and Dr. Shelby, of 
our past, and your mother came and said, * Come, come, and 
talk with Sani'l.* Well, brother, we recollect you well. 
We do not regret the sermons we preached as followers of 
John and Charles Wesley. Had we lived in the age you do 
we no doubt should see through the same spectacles you do. 
Therefore we are not wondering at the light that seems or 
really does surround you. We often gather about you ; and so 
do the messengers, as has been told you to strengthen you for 
the work before you. Bro. Sehon says, tell Bro. Watson his 
reward awaits him. 

"Go on, my brother, in the glorious work before you. 
Angels will guide and bless you. Your brother, 

" C. B. Parsons." 

" Oh, Brother Watson : — Have you ever forgotten my 
stupid attack on your little book, that or the thoughts of which 
has annoyed me more than any one particular of my spirit-life. 
But your big heart never did, never could cherish aught of any 
one when convinced, as you were, of my total ignorance as to the* 
phenomena you had so graphically portrayed. Your sayings 
will live and be graven on the hearts of millions, when my 

(344) 



Communications through Dr. Mansfield. 345 

arguments shall be as waste paper. Let me say I was wrong 
and you were right, therefore your sayings will live, when mine 
will be forgotten. Your friend and brother, 

"ThOxMAS E. Bond." 

"My Dear Son Samuel: — My soul rejoices at being 
privileged to say a few words to you. Mollie, dear one, is so 
rejoiced to have spoken with you that she appears like one of 
twenty years of age. Her joy seems complete when she can talk 
with you and Ellen. Bettie, darling one, is with me now, and 
so are your brothers, Wm. Henry and John A., and your sister 
Mary. What a time of rejoicing is this, my son ! It reminds 
me of that time when you and Ellen and all the dear ones will 
be re-united with me and your father in one unbroken circle, 
never more to be separated. 

" (Wait one moment, Mr. Winchester, and then you can 
have the medium). 

14 Well, here let me say you, above all, should be so thankful 
you live in the age you do. Look away to the reward that 
awaits you, my son. 

" Your mother, Susanna Watson." 

" Thanks for the privilege of saying a word. I did not in- 
tend to intrude or trespass on time that belonged to your 
angel mother. I only wished to remind her that I was present 
and would be happy for a word. 

" Years, long years have passed since I was known as the 
Mayor of your beautiful city — no place on earth am I more, 
or as much, attracted to as that place of my earth-home. I 
only wish to say that I am grieved to know how wrongfully 
have my children been treated as regards the property I left 
them. Tell the dear ones that I and their natural mother 
grieve at their misfortunes. 

" I am thankful that I was enabled to educate them abroad — 
as I did — Leonora, their step-mother, heaven bless her for the 
care she had for them. while she had charge of them. If you 
see them tell them, father and mother and Leonora are with 
them, and that all shall meet by and by when parting will be 
no more. Marcus B. Winchester." 

" How can I be sufficiently thankful for this undisturbed 
privilege of adding my testimony to this truth of all truths — 

x 5* 



346 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

spirit communion. I often talk with John and Charles Wesley, 
Baxter, Whitfield, Otey, and others, of our struggles in at- 
tempting to enlighten the world during our life-time, and often 
ask ourselves why it was the light that you are blessed with was 
not allowed us. Was it because we had less faith, or lived 
beneath our privileges ? I am not willing to think that, for if 
ever a man tried to live in the favor of the good God, I claim 
I did; and yet, with all of my self-sacrifice and constant prayer 
to know the will of Him I served, I was in doubt of an after- 
life. Had this light which lights your candle been shown me, 
how differently would have been my teachings. But it was 
not the will of our good Father ; my eyes were not to see what 
you so unmistakably see and know to-day. k Cry aloud and 
spare not, my brother, for as I am, you will in God's own time 
be.' Wilber Fisk." 

The following communication is from a brother-in-law, who 
married my only own sister. He was one of the most consci- 
entious men I ever knew. One fact will illustrate. He was 
a merchant in Texas, and owed largely to Northern merchants. 
The Confederates made him pay this to them. When the war 
was over he worked hard and paid the last dollar of his debts 
a second time to his creditors in the North, though it reduced 
him to poverty. He was nearly all his life a very efficient mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He mistook 
morphine for quinine, and died in a few hours after taking it. 
He soon communicated with us at our home circle. This was 
the first he gave us after he passed over : 

" Will you assist me with your prayers, my much loved ones ? 
I want to talk with you. I am not strong, but as an infant 
when compared to others who have thrown off the mortality of 
earth, and garbed themselves in the habiliments of the pure, 
sinless clime of the Summer-land. I have not attained the 
height to which I am now struggling and praying to ob lin, 
and will you believe me when I tell you, that although I 
tried to live uprightly and piously, yet I am not in the enjoy- 
ment of that degree of joy which I had held in anticipation up- 
on my entrance into the spirit-world. 

r< I am satisfied of one thing since I came over, that when a 
spirit leaves its tenement of clay, it still lingers around its old 
home, more especially when we feel that we have left those be- 
hind who needed our kindest and warmest affection, and in 



The Home Circle. 347 

whom we feel an unbounded interest, and whom we know de- 
pend upon this weak frame for support and daily advice. We 
see there is an attraction to our old associations, just as one 
feels when he leaves a much loved country to become an in- 
habitant of another. He still loves the old ties, and wishes to 
renew and enjoy them. I left the earth at a period when I 
least expected, and at no time could I have felt more averse to 
the exchange of worlds, but yet feeling at all times that my life 
was not in my own hands ; that He who gave it could take it, 
yet, had it been left with Him, I might not have passed into 
another and better world. I have been very happy at times — 
have met many dear ones, who have come down from their high 
abodes to welcome me to my new existence, and to tell me of 
how happy they are. All seem so spiritual and yet so material 
or earth-like, I am perfectly bewildered. I am at a loss to 
give you any idea where I am or what it resembles. I was 
somewhat prepared for the change, having read yours and 
others' works, but we are unable, even after the lapse of years, 
to describe to you this dear, precious, and holy land. 

"There are many things I would like to talk about if I could 
feel at liberty to say what I desire. I never like any one to do 
for me what I consider an irksome piece of business. Will any 
one ask some questions, for I must wait and rest ? " 

[Then the conversation was in reference to the life of this 
good man, and how devoted to Masonry and to the Methodist 
Episcopal Church ; how strict to attend to its ordinances, etc., 
when one of the circle remarked, " I wonder what he thinks of 
that now?" The control resumed and wrote the following] : 

" If I did, I was filling many gaps which might have had in- 
trusions of such a nature as to make me restless, and my time 
not spent in a beneficial way. You may depend upon it, I am 
happier now than if I had lived otherwise. 

" Yes, I am a Methodist still, in one respect better than when 
on earth, for when I say I am now holding intercourse with 
loved ones, and fully realize its truth, I am being convinced of 
a doctrine advanced by the founder of Methodism, and can no 
longer deny the fact ; though I may have many of my former 
beliefs upon many subjects erased from my mind, I can now 
say that I must work out wf own salvation. I see the neces- 
sity for prayer and work, and realize that faith without works is 
dead. Brother Watson, I find that you are nearer right than I 



348 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

could possibly have been until my spirit eyes were opened, and 
new developments followed. I bid you God-speed. I shall 
come again. Yours in spirit-life, Wm. B. Cook." 

A REMARKABLE TEST. 

" On Thursday evening, September 20, 1877, about 8 o'clock, 
a developing circle was being held at the residence of Dr. 
Samuel Watson, on Union Street in Memphis, for the purpose 
of developing a new medium. Several old citizens of Memphis 
were present. A spirit announced himself as John Barneveldt, 
and said that he was born in 1549 and died in 1619 — that he 
was Grand Pensionary of the States of Holland and was exe- 
cuted as a traitor. Inquiries were made of all present, and 
none had ever heard of such a person. The writer was handed 
a memorandum of the above announcement and requested to 
examine and find out if such a person had lived. By referring 
to a i Dictionary of Biography, comprising the most eminent 
characters of all ages, nations, and professions/ edited by R. 
A. Davenport, and published at Boston in 1832, by Gray and 
Bowen, I find the following : 

" ' Barneveldt, John D. Olden ; a celebrated Dutch statesman, 
was born about 1549, and fiVed many high offices with great 
integrity and patriotism ; among them was that of Grand Pen- 
sionary of the States of Holland. Being, however, a strenuous 
opponent of the ambitious projects of Prince Maurice, that 
prince succeeded in procuring him to be condemned to death 
on the shamelessly false pretense of having betrayed his coun- 
try to the Spaniards. The sentence was executed in 161 9/ 

u Can science and philosophy suggest any other hypothesis 
consistent with those facts, other than that it was the spirit of 
the departed statesman ? Veritas." 

\From the London Medium and Daybreak.] 

spirit control and quotation from a closed book. 

"'Samuel' placed his medium's hands on Mr. Burrell's 
head, and the latter was quickly controlled by Dr. Monck's 
own mother. We then asked for a trance-address through Dr. 
Monck. Mr. Briggs suggested the subject. The entranced 
medium at once rose, and for more than half an hour poured 
forth a flood of eloquent language and thought, which was a 



Conclusive Proof. 349 

masterly and exhaustive exposition of the subject. To test 
the spirit's ability to quote from a book, I held Dr. Watson's 
book, 'The Clock Struck Three,' in my hand, and desired 
1 Samuel ' to favor us with an appropriate quotation therefrom, 
while I kept it closed in my hand. He accordingly introduced 
a quotation of a whole page from the book, and gave us the 
exact number of the page. The extract was a most appropri- 
ate illustration of the subject of the address, and, as we after- 
ward found, was given verbatim without the slightest error. 
(1). Now Dr. Monck did not know, prior to the seance, that 
an address would be requested, therefore he could not have 
got the quotation by heart beforehand; and (2), this would 
have been further impossible, because no one knew the book 
I should select. I took it off-hand from the shelves of my 
library. (3). It could not have been thought-reading, for none 
of us had ever read the passage then quoted." 

ANOTHER REMARKABLE TEST. 

In the first communication we received from Gen. Thos. 
Rivers, published in " Clock Struck One," he put a W. as his 
double initial. We knew this was an error, supposing it to be 
a freak of Dr. Mansfield's pencil ; yet we did not feel at liberty 
to erase it. Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, 
is our maxim. We had known Rivers in his college days, and 
was present when he graduated at LaGrange in 1838. We had 
corresponded upon the subject of spirit communion, when he 
was our member of Congress, but never saw or heard of his 
having a W in his name until it was put there in his communi- 
cation, which contained a number of facts that we did not then 
know, but afterward learned to be true of persons, names, and 
things. 

The opponents of Spiritualism made sport of Gen. Rivers* 
not affixing his proper name to his communication. I was per- 
plexed myself and could not account for the error. Calling on 
Dr. Mansfield in August of last year, without asking for a com- 
munication from Gen. Rivers, Dr. M. was controlled and gave 
me one; I make a short extract : 

" I was pleased to know you finally ascertained that I gave 
the initial right in my name. Some took exceptions to it — but 
mother dear soon verified it to a dot." 

The annual Conference met a. Somerville, Tenn., 1872, 



35° The Religion of Spiritualism. 

after the publication of " Clock Struck One." While at this 
Conference we were invited to dine with a friend with whom 
the mother of Gen. Thos. Rivers was stopping. As soon as 
she came in the parlor she said in substance : " Bro. Watson, 
my son Thomas appeared to me the other night, and said : 
* Mother, you* think it strange that I had W in my name when 
I signed it to a communication I gave to Bro. Watson on the 
24th of May, and published in his u Clock Struck One." Don't 
you remember, mother, when I was a boy I was so excitable 
that the boys gave me the nickname of Wasp, and that I al- 
ways signed my name with a W in my boyhood days? Look 
at any of my old copybooks and you will always find a W in my 
name.' She said she had not thought of it for twenty years." 
Here is a small, but significant fact, known only, perhaps, 
to one mortal person, and she not thinking of it for a score of 
years, and more than a thousand miles from the medium, 
whom she never saw. "Straws show which way the wind 
blows/' and it will be found that these little " erroneous initials," 
as we thought them to be, can not be explained even upon the 
theory of the celebrated Dr. Carpenter of " unconscious cere- 
bration." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

HOME CIRCLES. 

We urge those who wish to investigate the subject of spirit 
communion to form circles at home. This is the most satis- 
factory mode of testing the truth of the phenomena. There is 
no motive for deception. We copy the rules for forming cir- 
cles : 

" Inquirers into the phenomena of Spiritualism should begin 
by forming circles in their own homes, with no Spiritualist or 
professional medium present. Should no results be obtained 
on the first occasion, try again with other sitters. One or 
more persons possessing medial powers without knowing it, 
are to be found in nearly every household. 

" Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but cool 
rather than warm — let arrangements be made that nobody 
shall enter it, and that there shall be no interruption for one 
hour during the sitting of the circle. 

" Let the circle consist of four, five, or six individuals, about 
the same mumber of each sex. Set round an uncovered wooden 
table, with all the palms of the hands in contact with the top 
surface. Whether the hands touch each other or not is of 
usually no importance. Any table will do, just large enough 
to accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from the 
table for a few seconds does no harm, but when one of the 
sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table, it sometimes, but 
not always, considerably delays the manifestations. 

" Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead-pencils 
and some sheets of clean writing-paper on the table, to write 
down any communications that may be obtained. 

" People who do not like each other should not sit in the same 
circle, for such a want of harmony tends to prevent manifes- 
tations, except with well-developed physical mediums ; it is 
not yet known why. Belief or unbelief has no influence on 

(35i) 



352 The Religion of Spiritualism> 

the manifestations, but an acrid feeling against them is fre- 
quently found to be a weakening influence. 

" Before the manifestations begin, it is well to engage in 
general conversation or in singing, and it is best that neither 
should be of a frivolous nature. 

" The first symptoms of the invisible power at work is often a 
feeling like a cold" wind sweeping over the hands. The first 
manifestations will probably be table-tiltings or raps. 

" When motions of the table or sounds are produced freely, 
to avoid confusion, let one person only speak ; he should talk 
to the table as to an intelligent being. Let him tell the table 
that three tilts or raps mean * Yes/ one means ' No,' and 
two mean ' Doubtful,' and ask whether the arrangement is 
understood. If three signals be given, in answer, then say, 
' If I speak the letters of the alphabet slowly, will you signal 
every time I come to the letter you want, and spell us out a 
message ? ' Should three signals be given, set to work on the 
plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent system of com- 
munication is established. 

" Afterward the question should be put, 'Are we sitting in 
the right order to get the best manifestations?' Probably 
some members of the circle will then be told to change seats 
with each other, and the signals will afterward be strengthened. 
Next ask, 'Who is the medium?' When the intelligence 
asserts itself to be related or known to anybody present, well- 
chosen questions should be put to test the accuracy of the 
statements, as the alleged spirits are found to exhibit all the 
virtues and all the failings of humanity. 

" A medium is usually a person of an impulsive, affectionate, 
and genial nature, and very sensitive to mesmeric influences. 
Mediums are of both sexes. 

" The best manifestations are obtained when the medium and 
all the members of the circle are strongly bound together by 
the affections, and are thoroughly comfortable and happy. 
Family circles with no strangers present, are usually the best. 

" Possibly at the first sitting of a circle symptoms of other 
forms of mediumship than tilts or raps may make their ap- 
pearance, while by sitting regularly two or three times a week 
the manifestations will rapidly develop. 

"Among the varied phases of the phenomena already observed 
by investigators, may be noted the following : Movement of 
physical objects, both with and without contact with the sit- 



Home Circles. 353 

ters ; direct writing, drawing, and voices ; enhancement ; trance 
and inspirational utterance ; temporary materialization ; in- 
voluntary writing; healing, visions, impressions; as well as 
many phenomena observed in the study of mesmerism. 

u Possibly symptoms of other forms of mediumship, such as 
trance or clairvoyance, may develop ; the better cless of mes- 
sages, as judged by their religious and philosophical merits, 
usually accompany trance and clairvoyant manifestations, 
rather than the more objective phenomena. After the man- 
ifestations are obtained, the observers should not go to the 
other extreme, and give way to an excess of credulity, but 
should believe no more about them or the contents of the 
messages, than they are forced to do by undeniable proof." 

We heartily indorse the above, copied from the London 
Spiritualist. Let all who desire to know the truth form such 
circles. They will do more than any other plan of investigat- 
ing to convince inquirers that their loved ones are near them. 
JVhat we have realized in our own family has been worth more 
than all we have witnessed from Boston to Texas for more 
than a score of years. We have to a great extent lost interest 
in public seances, hence we rarely attend them, and when we 
do it is only to aid others in their investigations. There are 
many families who have home circles where they commune 
with loved ones statedly. To them the gates are not only 
ajar, but the veil separating the two worlds is almost removed. 
If conditions are obtained, they will not only write lengthy 
communications, but will, as they are doing in a number of 
families, show themselves, without any cabinet preparations for 
materialization. 

Our experience in our home circle is very satisfactory. 
We have long since ceased to feel any interest in physical 
manifestations. We have seen all that we ought, perhaps, to 
expect of materializations. Tests we have been having for 
some twenty years, so that we should feel ashamed of ourself if 
we demanded more ; but, the home altar increases in interest. 
It is here that we can meet loved ones, and have communion 
sweet with those who have " lived and loved together." 

We give the little message below from one who shared our 
joys and sorrows for a quarter of a century : 

"We are all here to-night. The singing is delightful, but is 
not such as we hear in the spirit- world. We sing the angels' 



354 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

songs, but feel so much interest, that we leave our beautiful 
homes to visit loved ones here, struggling for spirit communion, 
as we know some of you are. 

" ' Jesus paid it all, 1 but you must pay the same, so far as 
God requires it of you. Your path may lead through deep 
waters and fiery trials, but you must tread the ' wine-press ' 
alone. Your duty must be done ; He had help from the spirit- 
world, and you will have it, too, when your trials come. Look 
up, friends, the time is near when light will burst from the 
spirit-spheres such as never flooded the world before. Spirit- 
ualism must battle for the cause which Christ died for. You 
must work ; for much must be done before the world will see the 
beauty, and receive the spiritual theory. God will, in His own 
good time, send His ministers to battle with sin and infidelity 
in such power, as to make the foundations of all opposition 
crumble to dust. 

u Live holy and prayerful. The prize will be reached after a 
while. Make the subject of spirit control the burden of your 
prayers. God will give you the desires of your hearts when 
He sees you will serve Him ; let others do as they may. The 
spirits of your loved ones are here. The harmonious con- 
ditions attracted us, and we wanted to let you know, hence the 
medium was impressed to write. We love to come here. 
Love to all, good-night. Mollie." 

GONE BEFORE. 

Our son, John Wesley, who was a little over twenty-two years 
old, left us on the night of February 18th, after a lingering ill- 
ness of consumption for several months. In a few hours after 
he left his body he appeared to three persons, one of them two 
miles distant. Some may think this a delusion, but well-estab- 
lished facts settle this question. Mr. Wesley gives a number 
of such in his journal, and says a spirit finds no difficulty in 
traveling thousands of miles in a moment. 

The next day was the time for our regular weekly seance of 
an hour with our medium of the Inner-Life Department of the 
Magazine. On our arrival she told us that John and his mother 
were there before day ; that he looked embarrassed when she 
spoke to him ; he remarked he was in a strange place and in a 
strange country, of which he knew but little ; he did not expect 
to go over so soon — was taken by surprise. 



r Home Circles. 355 

When the medium was entranced her control for near an 
hour told us many things of profoundest interest in regard to 
our son and the spirit-world, but as he said he would write out 
an account of his entrance into spirit-life — how he felt and what 
he saw — we will wait to hear from him. There are a few 
points, however, that we will notice. It was said he had been 
confined to his room so long, he wished to look around before 
leaving for his sph it-home. Spirit friends would attend his 
funeral that afternoon and go with his remains to Elmwood, and 
the next morning at six o'clock they would leave for their home 
in the third sphere, and by the law of progression ascend " up 
higher." That he was now very weak, but there was an elec- 
tric vapor, condensed by spirit-power, that would strengthen 
him that he may be prepared to go forth to-morrow. This nec- 
tar which they infuse into the new-born spirit will enable him 
to return in a week, and perhaps give his experience. In a 
month, it was thought, he could materialize so as to be recog- 
nized. He spoke of the body he had left as an " old coat he 
had thrown off." 

At the grave our medium, who is clairvoyant, saw a host of 
spirits, and John was supported by his grandfather Dupree and 
his mother. He greatly desired to impress the young man who 
placed the cross of flowers on his grave, with a sense of his 
prerence and how he loved him. 

Soon he wrote the following : 

" Pa, I would like to say something to-night in regard to my 
work in spirit-life, and how that work not only elevates those 
whom I help to see the way of progression, but how it makes 
my spirit grow into that knowledge which is the result of pro- 
gressive development. I come to earth to commune with you 
often, but as I did in the body feel restrained by the fact that 
Johnnie never could make free with Pa, not because you 
repulsed me intentionally, but I was sensitive, and knowing I 
did not deserve your approbation, always expected some reproof 
or some advice, which I felt was for my good. I did not obey 
the law which tends to the soul's growth, but followed the blind 
guide faith, believing that after all I would cast my entire bur- 
den, as the preachers told me, upon the ' Lamb for sinners 
slain,' and all would be right. But, Pa, I did not leave the 
body in that dark and mysterious cloud, for glimpses of bright 
sunlight beamed upon my mind from the angel world, which 



336 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

made me feel that I was not going to hell's fiery furnace, but 
to a sphere where all my misdeeds must be blotted out or I 
should not receive the crown of life. 

" My mother, who passed over before me, was my teacher, 
and told me to grow by constant prayer to God, that He would 
show me by the light of truth what I must do to cancel my 
wrong-doing. I did, and angels upon wings of fire it seemed 
to me, so bright were they, came and said, ' As ye mete it shall 
be measured to you.' I h id often read that passage of Script- 
ure, but never understood it had reference to the law of recom- 
pense, which is the great Law of God, and must be obeyed in 
spirit as well as mortal life. I saw I must do to those more 
miserable than I, what had been done for me by those higher 
in the scale of progressive* knowledge. So I began to tell the 
spirits in the prisons of darkness what those bright ones who 
came to me, notwithstanding it was ' afar off,' told of heavenly 
communion and peaceful abodes where all is beauty, joy, and 
love. By doing this work as directed my soul grows — my 
spirit expands, and rising far above the prisoner's hell, I tell 
to higher ones the glad news that they are coming — the dark- 
ness is disappearing and light is breaking through their prison 
walls. 

" Now I will go, but come again before long when I can see, 
as is the case to-night, no one having a better right to the 
home medium's organism, and I will tell you more of my con- 
stant service in the spirit-world and how I am blessed thereby. 

"Johnnie." 

from our first-born, who passed away in childhood. 

" Yes, Papa, your expression is true in more ways than one. 
You are growing old, and ere many winters you shall enter the 
home we are preparing for you. We will meet you and bear 
you to your lovely home. Now, Pa, do not feel sad ; but of 
this you are aware, for you often remark that in the course of 
nature you can not live many years. You and Uncle Kendall 
are fast approaching the end of your time. But there are ways 
of ones prolonging their lives, and in this you very often err. 
We often wish you were with us ; but then because we are so 
happy in this beautiful home of ours, we do not want to de- 
prive those dear to you on earth from your beloved presence 
and precious society. We will wait and watch till the time 



Home Circles. 357 

. comes, and then we will enjoy it for all eternity. ' Then another 
mission will open for you : that of ministering to those on earth 
as we do to you through the medium of Aunty and Ma Ellen. 
Now just think, Papa, how many remarks are made which 
you think are of no meaning at the time ; but we hear and 
are impressed with the force of their meaning. I will not 
presume to offer advice to one who is always ready and fully 
competent to give advice. 

" Excuse me when I say .you must live nearer to God ; pray 
much for that comforting grace which is bestowed upon the 
earnest request made. I am your child, and but a small one 
when leaving you ; but I have ripened into manhood, or into 
maturity of manhood in years. I wish I could impress upon all 
to 'live near to God. Serve Him by striving to do His will. 
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be kind 
and affectionate one to another ; administer to the wants of 
those who are needy ; raise the fallen ; feed the hungry ; clothe 
the naked, and in many ways act the father and brother to all. 

" I go, my dear Papa. I am improving in spiritual knowl- 
edge all the time. Mamma says she will not write to-night. 
"Your son in spirit-life, Allen." 

" Well, Samuel, the children have made some allusions to 
your and Ellen's newly bestowed enjoyment, and whilst I enjoy 
fountains and streams of beautiful, pure water, I enjoy yours 
too. That's right — do all you can to make your home charm- 
ing, for your earthly home needs all the artificial charms you 
can give it ; but when you all come over you will then enjoy 
happiness to perfection. I want you to ask me some questions. 

"MOLLIE." 

Question by Dr. K. P. W — " What kind of people have you 
around you, and what are your associations ? " 

Answer. — " If you want to know what we have here as a class 
of persons for our associates, we are very much situated as 
you a.re. We have our communities, and from those vicinities 
we choose the ones who are most congenial with our spirit 
natures. We love all and try to help all, especially the igno- 
rant, and those who did not arrive at the standard of intelligence 
nor morality. We have some who were but poorly prepared 
for the place they now occupy, but by the help of advanced 
spirits they have passed beyond into a higher degree, all from 



358 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

the influence of us who work and intercede for their advance- 
ment. We are all happy in that sphere, and we make ourselves 
happier by our active employments in doing good and elevating 
those who now regret their misspent lives. We have some of 
all nations, but I make only a few my associates ; for I find 
many who are more congenial with my ideas of society. We who 
have attained to a higher degree of spiritual light and knowl- 
edge, meet to talk and pray, that we may diffuse an influence 
which will spread as a wave does from the intrusion of a stone 
or pebble. 

" Now I think I understand what you mean. I want to an- 
swer your question as to what plane spirits move upon. 

"There are some greater attractions or a greater identity to 
one country than to another. I love to linger among not only 
my family loved ones, but in the midst of my own nation. I 
was only a woman in private life, and did not reach out for any- 
thing pertaining to a public character ; consequently I linger 
around all those whose lives correspond with mine. None are 
different from, but are just as they were on earth. You will 
always be interested in medicine and engaged in some advent- 
urous pursuit, whilst the fathers or leaders of your country 
would be lingering near the proceedings of the same. The 
poor laborer will haunt his old pursuits. The minister will be 
often near and in the pulpit. The woman who is often a vis- 
itor to hovels of poverty, will often be found wandering near 
and in them, soothing by her influence the poor sufferer. 

" In my own judgment, though I don't profess to know, but 
only express my opinion in regard to medicine, I do most posi- 
tively believe that there is a magnetism imparted by the one 
who prepares the medicine, and by giving it he also administers 
a magnetism which is all the better for the patient. There are 
some whose magnetism is of a repelling character, and I be- 
lieve the magnetism imparted through the medicine would be 
injurious to the patient. Now, I am not posted, and this is 
only my opinion on the question, as I understand it. 

" Good-night ! Mollie." 

spirit-wife's advice to us. 

" You, my husband, have a w T ork in the lecture-field, and you 
must buckle on the armor, and go as Jesus said among wolves. 
There are wolves and lions, in the way of the progressive- car 



Home Circles. 359 

of Spiritualism. These must be driven from the way, and it 
never can be done by scientific or phenomenal lecturers. I 
mean those who do not look at this subject from the spiritual 
plane. There is more worldly applause, and a great name de- 
sired by many in the lecture-field, than the good to be rendered 
to humanity. Clouds are overspreading the skies, and they 
must be dispelled by the light of the spiritual sun. You feel 
this, and you know it, for there is an influence about you which 
impresses the thought that Spiritualism must be elevated, be- 
fore the world will be benefited by it — before it will satisfy 
souls who have almost starved upon Church teachings. The . 
Church has degenerated spiritually, and her people are in 
darkness and doubt. Something must come to their relief, or 
they will drift back into materialism and infidelity. Clear and 
demonstrable proof of the soul's immortality can and will be 
brought to the Church through Spiritualism or spirit com- 
munion ; if the lives of those who stand as exponents of its 
doctrines, will leave the phenomenal plane, and rise higher and 
higher to that degree of spirituality which will be a living and 
abiding testimony that their religion is from God, and meets 
every spiritual need of the soul, their good works and pure 
teachings will need no other commentary to explain the Chris- 
tianity they possess. 

" Now, when you go to the camp-meeting, go in the spirit 
of Christ, and He will abide with you, and give you such an 
unction from the Christ-heavens as will cause your hearers to 
exclaim, ' How his faith reaches up, and how the promise comes 
according to it.' Spiritual baptism will follow your preaching 
as it did Peters, if you will only look for it, and feel you are a 
messenger sent from God to do His work, while angels 
strengthen, as they did the Master in His earthly pilgrimage. I 
am going with you, and' your band who are aiding in your in- 
tellectual efforts will go too. They are with you, and they are 
Christian Spiritualists. No devilish or corrupt teachings will 
they give to the world— but are striving to teach that religion 
which comes from God, and is gentle, peaceable, and full of 
light. 

" Yours is a responsible trust, and you must by prayer and 
constant supplication, fit yourself for such responsibility. When 
you come over, which will not be long, for life is rapidly ad- 
vancing, I will meet you and give you that welcome I so 
ardently long to do. My home is in waiting for you — all 



360 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

beautiful and bright. The children often say, ' Ma, how long 
papa stays away.' We will be happy when you do come, and 
heaven will be brighter for it. Your stay upon earth is en- 
abling you to gather sheaves with which to rill your spiritual 
garner. 

" Good-night. Mollie." 

" Papa : — Lonely and melancholy were your feeling and re- 
flections this afternoon while wandering o'er the ground where 
once our young and happy feet bounded so joyously. Many 
happy days were ours — many hours were spent in sweet medi- 
tation, and where you felt the presence of loved ones, who 
had passed over the river of Life, and who came to make 
their presence manifest by touches so gentle and playful. You 
were happy when in this delightful season of solemn com- 
munion. We have talked, my dear papa, when at the quiet 
resting-places of the bodies of our dear little brothers and 
sisters, little thinking then that their spirit-forms were by us, so 
near that if the veil could have been removed from our vision, 
we might have seen them in perfect symmetry of form. I was 
with you, dear papa — knowing your intentions, I awaited your 
movements from the tomb of Uncle Tommie, to attend you 
in your wanderings. 

" Yes — nearly all who lived and loved together in the dear 
old home of my childhood, are now inmates of a more beauti- 
ful one in a land of delight, where we are fitting up mansions 
for you and your dear ones who are still behind. We long to 
see the happy time when we shall clasp hands and embrace so 
fondly the dear ones in the bright home of the beautiful be- 
yond. Your earthly homes are much more congenial with 
your earthly feelings and desires, but when you are severetl 
from your earthly frame, which is now becoming enfeebled 
with age, you will not then find anything to compare with the 
change of abodes. We can not describe to you in any lan- 
guage which you could fully understand of our beautiful, happy 
homes ; but when we convey you to it, you shall then know 
and see for yourself. No poet has ever conceived of, nor de- 
scribed by his imaginative skill, the perfectness of the sum- 
mer-land. You shall know each other, you shall find a sufficient 
compensation in the future abode of happiness for all you suf- 
fer below. Many have been your persecutions, and many 
have ridiculed you, many besetments ; but all this will insure 



Home Circles. 361 

for you a recompense of reward, and we as your children try 
to lift you up by the power of our influence, and we want you 
to be just as happy as it is your privilege to be. We visit you, 
and oh, what a quiet hour to meet you here at your fireside, 
and recall the memories of happy days, and point you to a far 
happier home awaiting you. Your mission has not yet been 
filled, you have not yet run your race ; but when you shall have 
laid your garments by and shall enter the place we are now 
fitting up for you, we shall all enjoy a blessed reunion amid 
the throng of happy, loved inhabitants of the spirit-world. 
<k I am your dear loving daughter in spirit-life, 

" Bettie." 

Just before leaving home to fill a lecture engagement for a 
month, my father-in-law wrote through my daughter now in the 
spirit-land, as follows : 

" Your labors will be productive of good. Many spirit 
friends will be with you, and inspire your mind. We can look 
down the future, and see incalcuable good that will result from 
your efforts there and elsewhere.' , 

In answer to the question about his entrance to the spirit- 
world, he wrote : 

" I was for days, before passing over, in the presence of my 
wife and friends. They were as constant in their attendance 
as you and Moliie were, and of course while regretting to leave 
you and the child of my love, yet I gladly entered the delight- 
ful place which had been within my view for days. I lingered 
for several years around the earth, but was with my spirit 
friends part of the time. I felt great interest in my earth-ties, 
and my nature was always to be busy about material matters, 
and while I lived in the fear of God, hoping to get to heaven 
when I died, I was by nature a business man, and I really 
have not quite left it all behind, for I take an interest in all 
your affairs, and several others I see striving to do good to 
their fellow-men. If I can help you any way either spiritually 
or temporally I am always on hand, and while others come, of 
whom you have never known are around you, and aid you in 
your talks to the people, it is by common consent left to me 
to advise about the material. You have always been inspired 
to some extent. 

16 



362 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

"But how I am wandering from my subject. Well, after I 
began to feel that I was really done with earth myself, I went 
to our spirit-home. There I found the dear little children that 
we had buried in Mississippi — all so happy to see me, and oh, 
what unspeakable happiness I have enjoyed with our dear ones 
here. I wish your eyes could have been opened when you 
were mourning the death of your precious child, and to see 
the rapture with which he was greeted here. He knew his 
mamma, and her soul was full, for she felt that while you 
grieved deeply for him, that it was best for all, and if you could 
see them as they are now, you would not so willingly wait the 
appointed time of your coming. When I return they will have 
so many questions to ask me. They are prepared to meet you 
when you come, more joyously, and with a greater flourish than 
the conquerors of old met with. While all nearly are men 
and women grown. When you come they will appear to you 
as when they left earth. They often wonder if you will know 
them. You ought indeed to be a happy man. 

"Allen Dupree." 

From our father, who had been about forty years a Methodist 
class-leader : 

Question. — " You were nearly all your life an active member 
of the Methodist Church. Tell me what you think of it now, 
and of my course in withdrawing from it." 

" In reply to your question I shall say that at the time you 
did it, I thought that perhaps you were acting too hastily, and 
that by remaining in the church as you had done for years, 
you perhaps could exert an influence that was needed at the 
time. Now understand me, these were my convictions when 
the intention was first consummated into a determination ; but 
as time developed so much that demanded an independent, 
manly, and above all a Christian course in the decision, I was 
constrained, without reluctance or any remorse of conscience, 
to influence you to act as you did. 

"Having heard you express a desire, on last evening, to know 
something of the place, and the kind of abode you are to have 
when you shall have thrown off the mortal, laid aside the old 
covering which has served you for so many years, and which 
you will see no more when you take upon you the immortal 
and ever-existing body, which shall be blessed and faultless ; 
for at death or the final departure you surrender all which ha? 



Home Circles. 36$ 

been of temporary use to you, to appear in what will be most 
suited, or better adapted in this your new place of existence. 

" You shall retain the natural enough to know, to remember, 
to see as you will desire into the past, but nothing of regrets for 
past neglects in omission of duties shall mar your peace ; you 
may be cognizant of many things which you now think would 
produce pain and sorrow, but yon are so changed that you only 
endeavor to ameliorate these wrongs and griefs, and your sorrows 
as you regard them now will prove to be only of a sympathetic 
character, which are impulsive and come and go in an instant. 
Your pity will be intensified, and your love for the erring and 
unfortunate will be sanctified. Do not allow yourself to enter- 
tain the thought that the troubles, trials, and sore temptations 
which overtake your friends and loved ones will cause you 
grief. Oh, no, I hope, my son, you will rise higher than the 
state which is much like the earthly. Aspire beyond the en- 
tanglements of sordid dust. 

"We often know from sympathetic impressions of that 
which annoys and perplexes our dear ones, and we can by the 
power which we possess, do much .toward assuaging or ren- 
dering these things less grievous and powerful, and can impart 
strength which we obtain from the ' Fountain Head ' for pre- 
venting the progress of such things, and often bring about re- 
sults different from those apprehended. We do not claim to 
have any power, only as embassadors. We are endowed, and 
act as instruments. We are emphatically sent by God to bless 
and comfort His dear children, whom He loves as none but He 
can bestow ; and I would remind you that you are always re- 
membered, and as all His children are known as sparrows, He 
never forgets or passes one by unattended. 

" You want to know what is the character of our employ- 
ment. 

i( This is as varied as it is on earth, that no one can be able 
to tell you. 

" You can better imagine what will be best suited to your 
heavenly nature. The spirit has, in its growth and perfect 
development, emerged into a sea of usefulness and blissful de- 
light, and in its expansive field it seeks employment in which 
it will find the most happiness. I can not tell what that 
would be ; it is for you to choose yourself. I know not what 
your name shall be, but I know you will possess the character- 
istics of the natural man and name. 



364 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

"We have what we merit, and you are the agents to de- 
termine that. You are endowed with all the faculties which 
are necessary to make the perfect natural man, and also the 
spirit-man. 

" There is a diversity of talent, and many whom we thought 
by their opportunities given them for development and im- 
provement in every phase, would be far advanced, are still 
inhabiting the places nearest the earth, still clinging to their 
old haunts and have the same desires and emotions springing 
up. They have not become spiritual enough to leave the 
earth. They have not realized that great change at death 
which so many depended upon to find refuge, even after a life 
spent in folly and debauchery. Their confidence in saving 
dying grace did not enhance their future happiness as they 
thought, hence now they rise by degrees into a heavenly state. 
These are they who exercised faith without works. 

" Then there is another class, whom I term the outcast, who 
have never known God in any of their ways. 

" They are miserable ; yes ; I can not express their unhappy 
condition. They are calling now for mercy; but how, when, 
and where shall they find it, is the question. We know that 
when we say they shall find peace and comfort, now that they 
have crossed the river of death (as it is often termed, but 
should be life), it is ridiculed by those who are wise in their 
own conceit ; but alas for them. There is redemption beyond 
the grave, and there is salvation for all w r ho shall call for 
mercy, even when we can see them in the land of misery. 
The same effect can be had by preaching to those in prison as 
was done in the past, and this is the mission of some (saving 
them) yet; yes, redeeming them from these pliers of deg- 
radation. This is one of the beauties of the spiritual philoso- 
phy : Progression for all. This should not be used as a plea 
for neglect in the earthly state. No, not at all. There is tor- 
ture ; there is untold and inconceivable anguish to the one who 
misspends his life and permits his career to be blemished with 
stains of crime and guilt. 

" I shall now desist, and when I come again, my children, 
to you, I shall begin right where I left off. 
" Your loving father, 

" Levin Watson." 

" My Son : — In the quietude of this hour, when your 
thoughts should be most naturally upon heavenly things and 



Home Circles. 365 

the world closed out, it is the time for our communion to be 
sweet and to be mostly enjoyed. I have thought that at such 
a time it is most appropriate for this ; it is at this hour you are 
about to lay your bodies down to rest, and angels do their 
vigils keep, and to soothe your minds to rest, we come to 
await your time for repose. Your bodies need this rest, your 
mind needs it, and nature is right in providing the restorer, 
which is sleep. Your bodies are to rest after a while forever. 
Now, what do I mean by this ? There will be a period in 
every human being's life when nature expires and the being 
ceases to exist ; he dies in one sense, and the common accep- 
tation of the expression is, dead. What does that imply? I 
have never been dead, but I passed through the ordeal called 
death. When nature expired, then the spiritual appeared, and 
I was not as much changed as I thought I should be. I knew 
myself. I could identify myself. I saw the scenes of earth. I 
saw my loved ones weeping for me, and I saw a different 
world around me, yet I thought : ' Have I left the earth ? or, 
where am I ? ' I had met friends whom I knew had passed 
away years before. I saw a beautiful world ; heard singing ; 
saw happy, radiant countenances ; heard the sweetest music ; 
saw little children whom I very soon loved. I saw that I was 
at a happy place, and a beautiful one, and asked the question : 
' Is this Heaven?' It is not agreeable with my former teach- 
ings. I looked and saw, as I thought, my natural body, but 
yet I did not. . It was only the spiritual element clothed with, 
natural, enough to render me recognizable. I left my old self 
and took upon me just enough to be known by my family. 
The spiritual is the part which exists, and it assumes the proper 
identity to make myself known. 

" I see no throne, no Jesus, but I immediately felt the pres- 
ence and power of His influence. It permeates ail the heaven- 
ly spheres. I then reverted again to the time of my departure. 
I said I died, and after I was consigned to my resting-place, 
expecting to be raised again to the judgment, agreeable to my 
teachings. I saw myself, and thought amazement would take 
me by storm. The appearance of our spiritual bodies depends 
upon the cultivation of our minds, and as we ripen into a 
deeper love for Jesus and His word, our countenance becomes 
radiant, and hence the exclamation is often used, ' How 
beautiful that spirit looks ! ' We display with our spiritualized 
natures that by which we will be identified ; for how else can 
we know and be known ? • 



366 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" We are taught that the spiritual element of man lives on 
and on, and what we termed the resurrection had already come 
and there would be no more resurrection from the fact that 
there are degrees of happiness, and we enjoy them accord- 
ing to the Christian development made on earth. 

" When my life terminated on earth I did not cling to earth, 
for it had no special claims upon me nor charms for me. I 
first had a glimpse of my future home, and this made my de- 
sire to see and enjoy it so intense that my rapture knew no 
bounds. I exclaimed, * Farewell, vain world, I am going to 
meet my reward. Earth has no more for me to do. Loving 
friends know I am happy ; the parting scene is over, the strug- 
gle is past, and I have triumphed over death and the grave, 
and I am bound for Canaan's shore.' My future home heaves 
in view, my dear ones whom I had seen pass away (but never 
before knew how), met me as I expired and conducted me 
through a realm I can't describe, nor can any one else. I felt 
as though I was conscious, and yet I was not. 1 was in the 
influence of my Saviour and His angels — His messengers were 
with me. They spoke as with voices from some distant clime, 
' Come, dear one, we will take you to your place designed for 
you. Your life on earth was chaste, pure, holy, and useful. 
You need no judge more than you have had/ 

" The character of our homes and the employment of our 
future life is something which interests us as much as it does 
those who still inhabit the earth. 

" My home is not what it will be after a while. There is 
something held in reserve for us, but what that is we do not 
know any more than you do what yours shall be. 

" There is a place where our treasure is, and where we have 
laid it up. We shall receive it, and to the extent of our deeds 
done and purity of life, we shall possess the delights of a well- 
chosen home. I can not say what yours shall be, but 1 believe 
you will enjoy a rich inheritance and a happy reunion, and when 
you shall have spent your last days up^on earth you can then be 
better prepared to know and see for yourself what employment 
will be most congenial with your spiritual nature. You can then 
select that which will be the most conducive to happiness, for 
we all enjoy our new existence just in proportion to what we 
have made it. 

" A reunion of dear friends, we can assure you ; for many 
are waiting for you. and this life would not, nor could it be a 



Home Circles. 367 

happy exchange but for this reunion. This desire wells up in 
every-day life, and naturally the question suggests itself, so as 
to be a powerful incentive. 

" I look with regret upon all who seem to be so unmindful 
of many things yet to learn respecting their duties to their fel- 
low-men. I fear many think that their lives are hid with Christ. 
Many do believe it, but seem to care so little about it. There 
is a contentment which almost lulls some to sleep and induces 
them to fold their hands, and never have an aspiration. (I do 
want to spend more time upon these points). 

" Before I go farther I will return to the first part of my 
writing and satisfy you more clearly in regard to my own home 
and employment. There is a disposition upon the part of some 
to consume much of their time in the indulgence of a curiosity 
as to what kind of a place I call my home. 

" In the first place, all who have the greatest affinity for 
each other and seek their companionship, are associated to- 
gether. You may be surprised as to the number and who are 
nearest to me. It is a world for continued effort to benefit 
yourself and others. 

" Oh, what a mistaken idea indulged in by many that our 
activity ceases with the exit of the spirit. 

" Heavenly condition would not be such to me if I had to 
remain in a lethargic state, and if my happiness consisted only 
in praising Him forever. 

" I do not mean to say we do not sing and praise, but there 
is a way to do it which is congenial with our spiritual nature. 
We praise Him ; we magnify His holy -name ; we adore Him ; 
but our demonstration is very different from former teachings. 
It is the most natural way to produce happiness with all, though 
many never on earth enlisted in the work for Jesus, while some 
who go about doing good and endeavoring to engage in some 
useful training ; others never manifested any but a disposition 
to live for themselves, caring nothing for others. We find a 
selfish class here who have intruded themselves upon us. 

" I left the main object of my communication, which was to 
tell you of my home. My friends stopped to show me my field 
of labor, in which I take much pleasure, and find joy and com- 
fort. It was assigned to me because it was well adapted to 
me. I passed on through a lovely realm. It did not look as 
I thought it would — oh, no— till finally I was informed by my 
friends that there was my home. 



368 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" I met friends, and we all seemed happy. My son, I wish 
I could tell something which would satisfy you, but I can not. 
The family do not stay together ; some are beyond me and 
some are below me. I find that in consecration of our lives 
and purposes to the service of God and love to man, will add 
to the degree of happiness in our life. You never lose anything 
by your attention to them, and you will be fully compensated 
for any labor you performed in the earth life. 

" We are permitted to mingle with our friends, and of course 
that is heaven to me. How delightful to contemplate the time 
when you shall lay down the armor of life and rest in peace at 
home. 

" To the Christian man and all followers, I say : work faith- 
fully for Jesus, and you will be rewarded. I want to impress 
upon you that whatsoever you sow, that you shall reap. An 
active life on earth will insure enjoyment in the happy world of 
light. 

" When we see any one desirous to search into the hidden 
treasures which lie beyond the mortal, -it is with delight that 
we gratify them, as far as we are capable of doing so, but many 
things have not been revealed to us, and which I consider too 
wonderful for us to comprehend. Their magnitude is too 
great for us. I have given to you all, in simplicity and truth, 
just what my spiritual eyes have seen, and heart felt ; and now 
what more can I do or say ? 1 have told you that my home 
is not now what it will be ; that I shall yet ascend into a more 
rapturous delight, and drink still deeper from the fountain love 
of my Saviour. I can not say that my home resembles that of 
earth, and yet many things remind me of earth. Trees, rivers, 
the most beautiful pearly streams, birds warbling their sweet 
music, flowers, the like of which I never saw before. We 
roam o'er the plains and gather together to have what we term 
praise meetings. Friends yon have known meet with us, 
though they are not of our realm, but who wish to be strength- 
ened by contact with us. It seems there is an atmosphere 
which surrounds spiritual beings, so attractive to a congenial 
nature, and like seeks its own. Each affinity finds one in 
our precious and hallowed existence. I am not saying more 
than has been said before. 

" We are with our loved ones when we will it, and we cherish 
their society very much ; and we feel that it is indeed a 



Home Circles. 369 

heavenly country — one that is unchangeable and endures for- 
ever. 

" After meeting our dear ones as they pass on to their homes 
and we are conducted to ours, we feel that it is more than we 
deserve. Now, will you come to our. home so bright and 
happy ? I want all my dear ones to meet me. Live such 
lives as you will wish you had done when you are called to 
cross the i beautiful river.' Loved ones will meet you and con- 
duct you to your home fitted up for you. This home is one of 
beautiful surroundings, and you will enjoy it. Loving hands have 
cared for it, and peace, love, and harmony are indwellers. Be 
ready for the change which ere long awaits you, from the earth- 
life to the heavenly state, just beyond the scenes of the present 
mode of existence. Your career is one of pleasure, happiness, 
and usefulness ; your aim is to elevate your thoughts above the 
groveling things of earth. We come to you to instruct you in 
matters of importance, and to elevate your thoughts from 
earthly objects to those eternal and spiritual, lest you should 
fail to obtain a reward which awaits those who are faithful in 
well-doing. Be earnest in good works. We are always active 
and find much to engage our time. We do not measure here 
by minutes and hours, but are unceasingly employed in our 
Master's work. We are happiest when in His work in both 
worlds. We influence and impress the erring of earth. The 
power to do this is imparted by Him who rules the Universe, 
and whose influence is felt by all. We are employed by Him 
to minister to those who need our influence and watchful care ; 
hence we come to instruct through the avenues which lie open 
to us. There are many who are yet in the darkness in the 
spirit-world, who still live near the earth sphere, clinging to 
their old associations and to their wicked and perverse appe- 
tites, who need a superior and spiritual influence and we in 
part are employed in visiting them in their low and distressed 
condition trying to lift them from their wretched condition to 
joys above, unknown to them. We are thus employed in 
missions of kind entreaties to those who are not yet developed 
beyond their mortal cravings. Their thirstings for something 
noble, pure, and good have not been increased to that extent to 
create in their spirits a desire to leave their old haunts. Many 
a wicked man is urged by a wicked controlling spirit to per- 
petrate the most outrageous crime. He carries a devil within 
his own heart. The spiritual part of man's nature must pre- 
16* 



3?o The Religion of Spiritualism. 

dominate in order to govern the material or wicked. He 
must control the sinful inclinations, for when you would do 
good, evil is often near. 

•' Always do good and great will be your reward, for Him 
who K seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 

" We see a great change in the future awaiting the world, 
and many vague ideas are swinging ready to fail from the slen- 
der thread by which they are supported. You will live to see 
them. God speed the happy time when spirituality shall reign 
supreme over all the land and that the religion which you and 
many of your co-workers are trying to establish, shall sweep 
like a mighty wind, and the world emerge from the darkest 
shades which now envelope it. The gleams of light are bright- 
ening, and enlightening, and widening the farthermost ends of 
the planet. 

" I am your loving father in spirit-life, 

" Levin Watson." 

We remarked how much more satisfaction there was in 
this phase of spirit intercourse than in materialization. 

From Judge Hall, before starting on my long trip East dur- 
ing the summer of 1879 : 

" Mr. Watson :- -We are here to bring you good tidings of a 
better world, and to prepare your mind for the preparation for 
the mission you are about to enter. There is a vast field open 
for usefulness, and you are well qualified to fill your place and 
gather in the sheaves which are now ready waiting for the 
gleaner. 

" We always feel delighted, Mr. Watson, to see you enter 
the lecture field, and if your physical strength would allow, we 
would try to influence you to enter more extensively upon the 
labors, but whilst you are yourself some degree of careful pres- 
ervation, we shall not insist. 

" There are many more like our noble Dr. Peebles, who can 
and do fill the most necessary places, and are wielding a good 
influence where they go. We are glad to see his light shining 
so brightly, and the stars will certainly deck his crown. I use 
this as a figure, for we do not wear crowns, that is a mistake : 
yet we use it as a mark of distinction of the faithful and true. 
The degree of happiness and of ecstatic joy is greater for that 
one than it could possibly be for one who spends his life in 



Home Circles. 371 

sumptuous and riotous living, doing no one any good and 
detracting really from his own happiness. Your friends have 
influenced you in yoifr consent because they think that much 
good will accrue from it. You shall see some things you never 
saw before, and you will enjoy it. Now go forth with your eyes 
open to the fountain from which springs all that is comforting 
and soul-purifying. We know it will only be a short time till 
your mission shall have been filled, and we want you to do 
all you can. You have our prayers and our assistance. 

" Your friend, H. G. Hall." 

This was written after my return : 

" Samuel : — I have been aware of your desire for an oppor- 
tunity for me to write. I am on hand, as I am nearly at any 
time of this kind, and if I could but speak through the medium, 
how much I would say to you in regard to your trip and its 
result ; but I have nearly always found it an easy matter to 
express what I wished through the medium of pencil and 
paper. I have been with you much — have guided and directed, 
to the best of my judgment and ability to do so. I have many a 
time introduced to your extensive band of spirits some of the 
most able minds and fluent speakers. I would seek them in order 
to bring them to you, and they seeing at a glimpse how much 
they could assist you, took control and gave you ideas and 
clothed them in their own words, that they might sink deep 
into the most callous hearts, for I know that you addressed a 
diversity of minds and opinions from the most credulous to the 
opposite and to the most reasonable. The influence was as a 
magnet which was powerful and irresistible. The power of the 
sentiments you vveie influenced to utter, is felt even to this 
moment. 

" You were also endowed with a physiological influence never 
having been yours before. All this was intended to effect 
good and command the esteem and confidence of all, and to 
this you owe much af your success. Another feature admired 
and conquered was your earnest Christian zeal which attended 
you in your walk, conversation, and addresses. This carries a 
vast amount of power with it, and gives expression and impres- 
sion above any one else who addressed those vast audiences. 
You* were absorbed in all these things more than you were in ob- 
taining communications and receiving tests. You had no de- 



372 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

sire, and certainly you have passed beyond the point of curiosity. 
I was with you on many occasions; several you were informed 
of, but some you know nothing of unless* you were impressed. 
We can not always tell when our impressions are felt. In 
some instances we are entirely ignorant of them. 

" If you were traveling and lecturing constantly, I believe 
my work would be vastly changed to be with you most of the 
time. My mission would certainly be changed. I have had. a 
happy time. I have enjoyed the mirthful glee of the happy, 
sweet-toned Spiritualists. In their religion they could not be 
otherwise than extremely happy. They have the germs of true 
happiness in this earth-sphere and an assurance of happiness 
in the beyond. 

"I was not surprised at the solicitations you had to fill en- 
gagements, but that you can not do. You must not tax your 
strength too much. You need rest now. I do not want you to 
falter yet awhile, for there is much work for yon to perform and 
good to be achieved. You have met some very fine mediums, 
and you might have gotten remarkable tests if you had really 
desired them. Now, Samuel, we are all glad to meet you again 
at home where your heart is. I shall come as often as it is 
agreeable, and others will come at some future meeting. But 
this will suffice for to night. Yours affectionately, 

" Mollie." 

" Here you are at home again, and we are yet with you to 
welcome you. Surely you are surrounded by angel care, who 
go and come with you. Now herewith home loved ones again 
to talk with loved ones and to allow your thoughts to dwell 
upon heavenly things. You are shut in from the world, and 
God and holy loved ones are uppermost in your thoughts. This 
is a fountain of joy from which you can always be refreshed, 
and the spiritual part of your being be renewed. You, and not 
only you, but all need these seasons for a renewal of spiritual 
strength, and without it you wither and die a spiritual death. 
There should be more time given to meditation and prayer. It 
is necessary while buffeting with the toilsome world. You 
should often seek relief in prayer, which is the avenue through 
which to obtain. spiritual food. We ask for what we need, and 
by making our requests known we derive knowledge, and hence 
we are prepared to teach better than earthly friends. We often 
extend, by the power of impression, the knowledge which is 



Home Cfrci.es. 373 

necessary according to our ideas to help you along. We occupy 
a stand-point which you do not now see, but by and by you can 
see as we see. You will be drawn to earth by the same kindred 
feeling we have. We can not supply you with all your curiosity 
would incline you to ask for. You are to come to us and see 
for yourself. We do not know what is withheld from you which 
would benefit you. Now comes one sweet and cheering thought, 
that each day brings you nearer your heavenly home, and we 
need not now say to you, ' Be ready for the day when you shall 
cease to care for earthly things/ and you can come where you 
will be happier than you even expect. Good-night. 

" MOLLIE." 

" Samuel : — We are so glad to see you so tranquil and happy, 
and we could not, if we were asked, provide any more than you 
have already, to contribute to your happiness. We can see the 
condition of our loved ones, and if happy we participate with 
them ; if not, we do all we can to make them so. We can not 
say we are rendered unhappy in this happy, beautiful home, 
in having been changed to a condition above the earthly 
feeling ; but we can and do sympathize with those of our earth- 
friends who deserve it. 

" If an erring child continues in his wayward way, the spirit- 
mother never ceases to cling to him — to be about him — to im- . 
press him — to check him in his career; but if she is happy in 
her new spirit-life, she is not rendered miserable, but it has the 
tendency to retard her progress in her present life and in her 
spiritual pursuits and employments. The situation of mortals 
has, to some extent, its influence in this respect. It keeps the 
spirit too closely allied with earth, and consequently it does not 
progress. 

" I am not one of which I speak. I have had every oppor- 
tunity, and therefore I have improved it in a very elevating 
and purifying manner. I seldom ever return to you only under 
the most pleasant and happifying circumstances, and it is best 
for me to do so. I enjoy it, and it does me good. You aie 
not aware, either, of the strength a spirit derives from hum m 
earthly mortals if their lives correspond with what they under- 
stand Jesus taught and exemplified. 

" Now comes to my mind, what would Jesus do if He were 
on earth ? He would have a field of boundless influences going 
about doing good. Sowing seed to spring forth and bear fruit. 



374 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

He would teach you charity by His example and deeds — He 
would teach you humility, and what a change He would bring 
about in your proud city ! He would remind you many ways 
you were remiss in your duties. He would teach you patience. 
His example is better understood than practiced or imitated. 

u We would have you think of these things, for the practice 
of them will make you happier. We do not have any special 
call to earth now, but when you meet we feel that we can en- 
joy that. . Mollie." 

spirit-homes. 

" Now I can tell you some things about our home and who 
are with me. 

" We are not together all the time, as some would imagine. 
This can be accounted for upon this score or for these reasons. 
Affinity, intellect, and spiritual development are three principal 
reasons for our separation. As you have often been told, this 
world is one of activity and progression, and as we enter into 
the spirit-life we are then transplanted to a soil or place where 
we have the best opportunities for improvement. Our minds 
are often strengthened from infirm old age to vigorous man 
and womanhood. As soon as the spirit enters its new ex- 
istence, if inclined to good deeds and desirous of wisdom, it 
seeks it and can find it ; but if its preference is the opposite, it 
seeks and obtains it. The channel for good and for improvement 
is deep, and every one soon sees what position will be most 
suited or better adapted to their natures. Our children are, of 
course, differently disposed, and consequently have different 
positions. Some departed in early vears before properly 
matufed, others after some years of cultivation. Their minds 
were expanding and the buds were bursting to bloom in full 
beauty in the spirit-land. We constitute one family, but as 
different natures seek their own level, we are consequently 
not together. Now, I will here say — the little ones still clus- 
ter around the parent stem, but the matured ones are not with 
me only as we desire. I can not yet, nor do I think I shall 
ever be able to, give v •■■•' a satisfactory explanation of the laws 
which govern us, still a^ they do to some extent while on the 
earth-plane. We can be together as we prefer, at intervals 
best suited to us. 

" Our homes are not as yours, nor do we desire it. They are 
not in appearance so earth-like, yet they are massive in quality — 



Home Circles. 375 

stone is the material. We have our bowers of beauty and re- 
freshing limped streams and fountains, which refresh the weary- 
soul. Our flowers are not like the earth, but we have flowers 
if we desire them, and they are liable to contribute to our 
happiness. We are made happy by having what conduces to 
our tastes, inclination, and desires. Your aspirations are realized 
more fully over in the spirit-land, than they possibly could be 
on the earth. 

"We have no Sunday or Sabbath, for we need none. We 
observe no special time for the Sabbath, but always have work 
to do of a spiritual character. We only realize it through 
your organism. We have food, but not as you do. We im- 
bibe from you much of our vigor and strength. This we can 
not describe. There is manna of which you have heard is 
good for us, and we partake of that. There is nothing as you 
term marriages, but if one is taken from the party betrothed, 
the union is consummated just as far as their affinity affects it. 
If united in heart on the earth, your affections would be 
stronger and the same in our new existence. 

"June 18, 1880. M Mollie." 

" I am truly delighted to see you preparing a work, which, 
in my opinion, will be very popular. It is laden with good, and 
will live fresh in the hearts of the people long after you are lain 
in the grave. Your spirit will attend it and you will rejoice in 
its success. Your spirit-friends attend you all along the crooked 
path of life." 

(When asked if he would meet us and listen to the reading 
the manuscript of the book and assist in making any correc- 
tions thought necessary, he responded thus) : 

" I am willing to take my share of responsibility. Of course, 
I can speak for no one else. You can be assisted by others 
who are inclined to come, any way. I don't suppose there 
will be much correction, but if we obligate ourselves to do so 
we shall not disappoint you. Right here you will see the object 
in invoking the assistance of several others. I may not know 
all the controls. Henry G. Hall." 

CLOSING COMMUNICATION FROM OUR BAND. 

" We feel, our dear brother, that the task which has been 
before you and upon your mind, and not yours only, but ours, 



376 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

is now about to be completed. You have had an influence 
about you and blessings upon you imparted to you by angelic 
ministry that was never before your privilege to enjoy. These 
hallowed and heavenly feelings will attend you still ; though a 
mission has been rilled, a work accomplished, we still expect to 
attend you, and as your band, assist you when needed, in 
service of a spiritual nature especially. 

" We shall strengthen you ; though natural or physical 
ability may give way with declining years, we shall still help 
you and sustain yon. A faithful sertant shall be favored, and 
we intend that your days yet to come shall be blessed and 
freighted with many blessings. You shall be made to rejoice 
as the green bay-tree, which knoweth nothing but to be re- 
freshed and sanctified, and your remaining portion shall be sun- 
shine, having the reflection of the brightness of the Father, 
whose splendor outvies the sun. Your days shall be long upon 
the earth. The world needs you, and shall be blessed with 
your counsel and example. Now, why should we speak thus? 
It is because we are empowered to do so. Many are working 
in our Father's vineyard, and are as laborers blessed. 

"You are so conservative that your influence is extensive. 
It is thus designed that your influence may widen. We come 
from our lovely homes to instruct you and help you on in 
your enterprise. 

" We shall ever revere your name, Brother Watson, and 
hope you will be ever a good servant. 

"We leave for the present. Your Band.'' 

" Well, Sammy, my son, I have not occupied the time allotted 
for the family in some time, and, I come to-night. I am con- 
stantly about my Father's busings, but this comes in my line 
of duties or mission, for we are ministering angels sent to im- 
part instruction and lessons of usefulness to the loved and 
weary, care-worn ones of earth. Much of what is good may be 
attributed to the direction of spirits of those who would never 
influence you to commit a wrong deed, or utter a wrong word, 
or yield to a wrong impression ; though we can not prevent 
these things being done, yet we sometimes check them in the 
bud. I want you to always be very careful and do what will be 
productive of good. We can see and do know to what extent 
your sinful natures are prone to error, and hence we insist 
that you become more spiritually-minded, but the earth has 



Home Circles. 377 

many allurements to decoy especially the young into paths of 
vice, but still we shall not become weary in our task. We are 
directed by Jesus to always act as by the directions of Him as 
our Leader, and will do what we can. The subject I hope to 
listen to in your discussion, is one from which you can draw 
very distinct and correct conclusions from the Bible, and this 
is one you must try to impart in a very plain and earnest man- 
ner. You may excite a great interest among the people by 
giving some plain, profound, and convincing reasons. Your 
friends wilt be better satisfied with your arguments than if they 
came through any other source. I want you to preach, not talk 
as many do. Now the time has come, for the interest which 
has become an excitement among the thinking class, must be 
increased by those conclusions drawn from the Bible. You can 
do much good. You must prove your points all the way from 
the Bible. 

" Your father Levin Watson." 

"July 18, 1880. 
" Bro. Watson : — I regret that the medium is not more 
composed, or that I could exert my influence over her suffi- 
ciently to write at length. I have many things to say when a 
favorable opportunity presents itself. You have enjoyed to-day 
all which could have been imparted to her and I don't know 
that much remains for me to say now. Your book, in which we 
have felt a responsible position, is now at the point which ter- 
minates any help we might give. Its completion leaves us but 
to engage in other things which is the intention to promote good 
and happiness to mankind. They need all the assistance we 
can render. Our minds are more expansive, and the powers 
of comprehension increased and strengthened by use. We are 
not idle. Contact with the earthly makes us more intent in 
the effort to help all to invigorate and bring about a more fruit- 
ful heritage, yielding an abundance. We are often summoned 
to earth, where we accomplish much good. Our mission does 
not terminate in our separation from the body. The temple is 
rebuilt and in better working order. The developments justify 
us in speaking and thinking thus. The world is opened wide 
for our embrace and vast improvement. We have caught 
glimpses beaming from hearts which reverberate and which act 
in concert with another when the affinity does not have a re- 
pelling effect. Trials and perplexities lessened, separations 



378 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

made less sensitive— loving hearts made to feel yet nearer — 
death less horrible — the grave no terrors— the spirit-world a 
future happy home. Infidelity left without support. Material- 
ism made to blush, and its believers made to know, without a 
doubt, that there is a happy beyond where life does not cease, 
and to the Christian a tranquil, patient resignation. All this 
we feel is worth striving for. C. B. Parsons." 

I have been reading the New Testament carefully, with 
special reference to the true teachings of Jesus, in regard 
to the fundamental principles of the religion He came to es- 
tablish. To do this properly, one must divest himself of 
his religious. prejudices, which is a very difficult thing to do. 
Our early impressions are the most difficult to eradicate. It 
requires strong moral nerve to look at these questions from an 
independent stand-point. This I have endeavored to do, and 
with what success the reader who has followed us can best de- 
termine. 

I am not an iconoclast ; I would not tear down, but build 
up on a sure foundation, the corner-stone of which is the 
principles taught by the gentle Nazarene. These, I think, 
have been misunderstood by the creeds of dogmatic theology, 
as we have endeavored to show. These, while professing to 
derive their authority from the same source, differ on some 
points which may be regarded as fundamental. I find that 
both the Old and New Testaments abound with spirit man- 
ifestations. The latter begins and ends with the most im- 
portant communications that can be found in the pages of 
history. The Christian system recognized by the numerous 
sects, claiming to derive all their authority from these books, 
was dependent on spirit intercourse for its vitality and success 
in the days of its purity, as its history shows. It is a question 
of vast importance, Are spirit manifestations real, or are they 
imaginary ? If the latter, then the basis upon which the 
superstructure of Christianity is built, is a sandy foundation. 
If the millions of living witnesses to the truth of Spiritualism 
all around the globe are deceived, then the patriarchs and 
prophets, apostles and martyrs, were likewise deceived, and 
we are out at sea without chart or compass, tossed by the waves 
of materialistic infidelity, without any knowledge of any other 
world or mode of existence beyond the present. Whatever 
psychological law that will explain the modern phenomena, will 



Home Circles. 379 

also sweep the ancient into oblivion. Hence there is more 
at stake than is generally supposed ; they stand or fall together. 
The popular way of disposing of this matter is the assertion 
that these manifestations were given for the establishment of 
Christianity, and that the day of miracles has passed away. 
There is no warrant to be found anywhere in the Bible for 
such an opinion, and if the maintenance of this religion ever 
required their intervention, there never has been a time in the 
world's history when it was more needed than in this age of 
scientific reasoning and scoffing infidelity, which have taken 
possession of the minds of many of the leading philosophers 
and scientific guides of Europe and America. There never has 
been an age in w T hich these things have not been manifested, 
but skeptics called them tricks and delusions. The fact that 
the spirits of the departed have returned and communicated 
with living persons, is so thoroughly established by a host of 
witnesses in all ages and countries, wherever books have 
been written or records kept, that it would be a work of su- 
pererogation to adduce further proof than history furnishes. 
They demonstrate the individual immortality of the soul, the 
certainty of a future state corresponding with our deserts 
and conduct in this life. 



JESSIE B. FERGUSON. 

" Good-evening, Mr. Chairman. I am here, and ready to 
answer any questions. How are you doing, Bro. Watson ? " 

Dr. Watson — " We are glad to meet you. I am doing as 
well as could be expected, though suffering some." 

Mr. F. — " I come, hoping to gather from the stream of time 
* pebbles' which I know you will find use for. Some of them 
are rough. Patience, with earnest working, will polish them, 
and then the world will understand and realize their worth. I 
am ready." 

Dr. W. — " I would propose that you give us your views as 
to how we should live here, to better attain the perfect plains 
of happiness hereafter." 

Mr. F. — " You wish to learn that life here that is to give 
you knowledge, that your works may be known hereafter. 
Live to love thy neighbor as thyself, and keep thyself unspotted 
before the world — before the world ; do you understand ? Let 
your lives be so pure that the world may know that there is no 



380 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

evil in you; abiding by those laws that promote perfect health ; 
the purity of your spirit perfecting your body. Let your light 
shine, that all seeing it may be guided by its rays ; conquer 
self; extend charity toward all of earth; live in perfect har- 
mony with the teachings of nature ; lay aside all forms. Re- 
member, it is the acts of your lives that are recorded in the 
great book of records. The Great Being hears not the words 
that come through studied forms ; it is the .action of the heart 
that is most regarded by Him. He that has, let him give to 
those who have not. If you have not of worldly goods to be- 
stow, you have, perhaps, in your heart a ray of sunlight that, 
through smiles and kind words, may find its way into the soul 
of your less fortunate brother, and lift a portion of the load of 
care that the world's adversity has placed there. Christ gave 
you an example of true charity. Amid His own trials and 
persecutions, when alone and footsore He wandered in strange 
lands, with nowhere to lay His head — His sympathy awakened 
at all times, by kind words and gentle acts, He bestowed com- 
fort to the lowest of God's creatures. His own sorrows were 
never so great as to hide from Him the trials of others. He 
set the example of charity by living a life of unselfishness. Live 
in accordance with the perfect laws of God in nature, looking 
upon all of earth as thy kindred, extending love to the entire 
universe, and keeping yourself in harmony with the perfect 
laws of truth. When you have conquered all false ideas, and 
exalted your spirit that your eyes may see the divine principle 
of God in all life, then you have established the golden link 
that, riveted to the great chain, of the universe, leads you to 
the perfect paths of peace in the paradise of God. As kings 
you stand, crowned with wisdom ; lifted from sin through the 
power gained over self, and the beautiful spirit of charity that, 
through pure souls, you bid abide with you." 

Ci Mr. Chairman, you will see that we have changed the order 
of the evening. The spirits who are to communicate to you 
to-night are directed by the wants of the souls here present. 
The spirit who comes desires to introduce himself. He will 
be with you in a few moments. 

" Good-evening, Mr. Chairman. Good-evening, friends. I 
can not say whether I am a welcome guest or not. I come 
for the interest of humanity, in which I am greatly concerned. 



Home Circles. 381 

I was interested in humanity when upon earth, but that interest 
was prompted by selfishness. Nature endowed me with a 
gifted mind. All perfect were the golden clippings that fell 
from her regal mantle ; by my own acts I dimmed the lustre of 
the beautiful gems she gave me. The desires of fleshly ap'petite 
marred the high spiritual element that floated over me. I am 
the spirit of George D. Prentice, the poet-editor, of Louisville, 
Ky. The beautiful precepts of love that my mother gave me, 
ever lived in ' memory's urn,' and when my soul would soar 
upon its wings of fancy, I drank the incense from its reeking 
cup. From the rosy clouds I gathered flowers to weave into 
rhymes of life stories, and baptized them with dew as it nestled 
in the evening flowers ' like souls at rest.' The spiritual of 
my nature ever sought to gather from the beautiful of earth. 
'The violet, with the blossoms blue and wild,' 'the evening 
spreading her robes of light,' all gave to me thoughts of the 
beautiful — thoughts that, framed in words, live in the hearts of 
my countrymen, while 1 scarce seem to be, only as a broken 
reed — 'a lonely branch upon a withered tree, whose last frail 
leaf untimely sere went down.' I, the broken-spirited, bowed 
old man, gave up my outer form, went to sleep when the ashes 
of my hearth -stone were cold — when one by one the circle of 
my home had crept away — one son left with his child. That 
son is with the spirits now — all have passed from their earthly 
home. 1 passed from the earth-life as I had lived for years, a 
lonely, broken-spirited old man, with the inner temple injured 
from the rottenness of the outer; and I am here to-night to 
plead with you, my friends — plead that as reformers you will 
stretch out your hands in the true path of reformation. While 
you condemn and censure the man who imbibes freely of 
spirituous liquors, you do not seek to destroy the cause of the 
appetite. To destroy alcoholic drink is merely impossible. It 
has its use, and for that must be sustained — let the distillers 
and salesmen of it alo'ne. Go to work and reform your society 
by giving more freedom to your young men. The lust for 
stimulating spirits is confined almost entirely to the male sex, 
and if you will notice, the appetite does not come until the 
period of ripening age. 'It is w T hen other forms of abuse begin 
to draw on the vital system, when the labors of civilized life 
come, or are allotted to the male sex — the mental toil, that which 
overworks and exhausts the brain and debilitates the body — 
that body seeks stimulants. The devotion to toil exempts the 



382 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

worker from social intercourse. Six long days of confinement, 
no change, ever the same ; the night finds the toiler weary and 
anxious to rest, and to those who use brain as well as hand, 
there are but few moments for rest. The pen must move 
when- the thoughts are ripe. The lone taper tells of the 
nightly labor of the head and hand. There is no relief, no 
stimulant to awaken a flow of genial spirits within his being ; 
his body is weakened by the great strain upon the mental, 
which has tightened every nerve until the trembling hand tells 
the story of an overworked life. In a world where man con- 
demns social pleasures upon the Sabbath, when and where can 
the worker find release or change from the tiring strain upon 
the brain ? 

6i There are less deaths from intemperance in Germany and 
France than in any other country. When the week of labor is 
over, society does not force them to closely confine themselves 
to their home circles, or to the close walls of the church. She 
sends them abroad in the woods, where in Nature's grand halls 
they can worship God, and listen to His words in the voice o 
the winds, while the murmuring brooks and sweet-singing birds 
hymn the doxology. Dusty law books are forgotten, the 
counting-room does not revisit their eyes by continual visions 
of brick and mortar ; but glad fields and green hills give the 
spirit the renewed vigor of boyhood. Let reading-rooms be 
established and opened upon the Sabbath day, where your young 
men can spend the hours of the Sunday afternoon, gaining 
knowledge for future use. To those who have been bent down 
with the jack-plane or wielding the hammer over the anvil, this 
is a stimulant that lifts the spirits for the long week to come, and 
brings his mental to lift his physical. Remember the Sabbath 
day and keep it holy, by perfecting the laws of life. 

" If in the morning of your life you are full of hope, and the 
future shows its rosy lining, let it ever remain so by working 
.for that which shall harmonize with your nature, taking recre- 
ation whenever and wherever opportunity will present itself. 
Let your young men do this, and there will be less appetite for 
artificial stimulants. I do not speak against churches nor 
their, teachers ; but I do speak against society, that condemns 
the man who sees fit to seek the hillside, or sea-shore, upon the 
Sabbath day, and that society must be regulated by the churches, 
all know. Open your reading-rooms upon the Sabbath day, 
and there will be less sin in your cities ; less stealing in at 



Home Circles. 383 

private back entrances to living hells, where the appetites are 
fed that increase until the man becomes a broken and bruised 
reed, to pass away, and be condemned by the very society that 
forced him into sin." 

" I fear I weary you. With your permission I will come 
again. Good-night." 

(Seance conducted by Henry Bacon). 

" COME AND LET US REASON TOGETHER." 

The time has come, in the history of the world and the 
Church when this God-given faculty of the human intellect must 
have its influence upon those who are capable of appreciating 
its importance. Behold, now is the accepted time for those 
to whom the world looks for instruction in regard to man's 
duty and destiny, to be able to give a reason for that which 
they require at his hands. The age of blind faith in antiquity 
is rapidly passing away. The time has come when those who 
teach the Christian religion must show that it is a grand system 
of philosophy, worthy of its author, and that it challenges the 
mind of this reasoning age. Materialistic rationalism has been 
at work among the intelligent nations of Europe until it has 
swept away almost every vestige of vital Christianity among 
the intellectual classes. It is at work in our midst, rallying a 
host of scoffing infidels and attracting large numbers of partial 
skeptics to its ranks from among those who have reacted 
from a religion of unreasoning faith in arinont^ and wish to 
take a definite position somewhere om a rational platform. 
These are loth to leave the faith of their /ouch, and call im- 
patiently to the Church for help. They implore her, in ac- 
cordance with the earnest exhortations of St. Paul, to render 
a reason for the faith that is in her, with which they may be 
able to satisfy the demands of their own natures, and answer 
the arguments of the opposers of Christianity. Year after year 
they are disappointed, until they become disheartened and dis- 
gusted, and at length fall into the increasing ranks of material- 
istic rationalism ; for they receive no light from the old-time 
responses, " Great is the mystery of godliness ; " " Human 
reason is not to be exercised on the profound subject of 
Christian faith." 

The fact is, we are living in the transitory period of the rea- 
soning age of the world. Reason, the great questioner, is every- 



384 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

where waking from the slumber of the physical ages of igno- 
rance, and propounding vital questions to the reverend doctors 
of the law. Intelligent men and women can no longer rely 
implicitly on the authority of the past or present, or accept as 
the ultimatum of truth a religion of unquestioning faith, handed 
down from the undeveloped childhood and youth of the world, 
notwithstanding the Church has stamped the seal of revelation 
upon the mere interpretation of the sacred text by her chosen 
teachers. The divinity within us impels the reasoning mind 
to seek " to know of the doctrine " that it is called upon to 
believe. 

It therefore becomes the duty and privilege of the Church 
to present the Christian religion to the world as a compre- 
hensive system of divine philosophy, as well as principles and 
precepts in harmony with universal law, obedience to which 
will bring happiness to those who implicitly obey its mandates. 
It seem . to us, when we look abroad and see the swelling tide 
of rational materialism, as it has spread its baneful influence 
over Europe and America, demanding something more tangi- 
ble than the teachings of the past ages, that the spiritual de- 
velopment should be hailed as "a godsend" to stay this tide 
of infidelity which threatens to engulf our country in skepti- 
cism. It courts investigation — demands to have its claims 
pass the most rigid scrutiny. It professes to give " proof 
palpable of immortality," and yet, strange, passing strange, 
those whose business it is to teach mankind will pour forth de- 
nunciations upon those who will not, or can not, believe things 
which occurred thousands of years since, and which have come 
down to us through human testimony. They will not investi- 
gate that which would "increase their faith," and affords to 
millions the only evidence they have received of a future mode 
of existence, and which gives them the knowledge that their 
friends live, appear to, and converse freely with them, as the 
Scriptures teach us was done under every dispensation, and 
which Jesus taught would be realized to a greater extent than 
in His day. 

Spiritualism has been In existence in all ages, and in all 
nations, according to history. The believers in Spiritualism 
are largely in the majority of the inhabitants of the world. All 
antiquity, with some few exceptions, were Spiritualists, accord- 
ing to the best historical authorities — -Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, 
Pliny, Cicero, Seneca, Tacitus, bearing testimony to the fact. 



Home Circles. 385 

At the present day the millions of population in the East are 
Spiritualists. All Catholicism is spiritual, and must be, or 
abandon all its saints and miracles. Protestantism alone has 
apostatized from the faith and experience of the universal 
world ; and even now through Protestantism, invincible, mul- 
titudinous, and daily springing facts, are restoring the empire 
of Spiritualism to its natural throne in the heart and intellect 
of man. 

In England and America there are thousands of families, in- 
cluding many of the very highest rank in intellect and in learn- 
ing, in which the varied phenomena of Spiritualism are as 
familiar as the daily newspaper. In some of the families of 
Scotland, of the highest nobility, it is notorious that some of 
the most extraordinary mediums exist. In France the same 
thing exists ; hundreds of thousands of Spiritualists, from the 
most highly cultivated to the peasant, are to be found. In 
Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Russia, there are thou- 
sands of Spiritualists. m The question has long been sifted by 
the keenest intellects. In the latter country one of the most 
intellectual men, and one of the most distinguished authors, has 
recently acknowledged his conversion to Spiritualism. In 
nearly all of these countries works of a learned and profound 
character have been written on the subject. 

William Hovvitt says : " On my shelves, besides English and 
American, I have above fifty volumes of French and German 
writings on the subject, prepared after years of inquiry and of 
travel, in search of actual phenomena, by men of great learn-' 
ing and fame. My conviction then is this : For the last two 
centuries there has been a tendency, and for the last century 
a most determined tendency, to ignore reason away, and 
trample down the best half of the universe — the universe of Spirit. 
No doubt these gentlemen had their reasons for their conduct. 
It was much more agreeable to have no apparition of a spirit 
throne and future judgment haunting them. The Hobbeses, 
Tyndals, Humes, Voltaires, and Volneys succeeded to a mar- 
vel. They have not only destroyed faith in spirit and spirit 
action, as in the monsters of the French revolution, but in the 
churches. They have not only, by the aid of Kants, Hegels, 
Paulesses, and Strausses, materialized nearly all of Germany, 
France, and Spain, but they have gradually infected, by the 
creeping virus, the universities and churches of Great Britain." 

17 



336 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Mr. Wesley says : "A spirit can travel thousands of miles in a 
moment." He says further, that " one well-established fact of 
the return of a spirit will forever destroy materialism." Yet 
some of his professed followers say we are beside ourselves for 
entertaining the same opinions. He would not be considered 
orthodox by some who bear his name because of him views of 
the intermediate state and spirit communion, which are identi- 
cal witji the teachings we have upon this subject from our spirit 
friends. 

What is the present moral status of Europe ? You find no 
Sabbath recognized after you cross the British Channel, except 
as a holiday, in which stores, shops, etc , may be kept open, or 
secular business may be engaged in. Try the professed Chris- 
tianity of to-day by .the recognized principles of the Gospel. 
" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Look now through 
Europe for this proof of Christianity of the nearly nineteen cent- 
uries of possession, and see it from one end to the other 
armed to the teeth — " every man against his neighbor." 
" Thou shalt not kill ; " yet the most prominent feature of the 
age is the enthusiasm of its mechanic genius at work to invent 
new machines for man's destruction. 

In passing through Europe, we were struck with the fact that 
a large portion of the men were in uniform, while the women 
were doing the work in the fields and the drudgery of the cities. 
Religion is a formal ceremony soon disposed of on a Sabbath 
morning. The man of the Vatican wields more power than 
any crowned head in Europe. Under this assumption, the 
name without the substance of Christianity, lies practical athe- 
ism and materialism. 

It must be a very mortifying thing to the learned and philo- 
sophical of the age, that when they thought they had com- 
pletely put down spiritual faith, and branded it with the bug- 
bear name of superstition, it should start up again and spread 
over the land, giving the most tangible proofs of immortality 
that can be demanded. 

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? Let all look 
at it. The good did come out of the Nazareth of Spiritualism. 
Men now learn by direct revelation that the souls of the so-called 
dead are around them, and they feel their own immortality and 
responsibility. The life of the inner world is thus brought 
home out of the vagueness of modern theology into a real, stern, 



Home Circles. 387 

ever-present fact ; awful to the wicked, but cheering and in- 
spiriting to those who are pure in heart and life. This is Spirit- 
ualism, which begins just at the point to which materialism has 
led the intellectual portion of Europe and America, whose pur- 
suits have been of a scientific character, but will end, if follow- 
ed faithfully, in that vital Christianity which recognizes the 
teachings of the Nazarene as its creed, and the common 
brotherhood of man in the practical duties of life. 



APPENDIX. 



Having been requested by Rev. C. B. Parsons at our " home 
circle," just before leaving home, to ask John Wesley, Bishop 
Otey, R. D. Owen, and others to write through Dr. J. V. 
Mansfield, I sent him a sealed letter to Saratoga and received 
the following reply : 

" Dearly Beloved Brother : — Yours of the 2d is before 
me and others of the band, who are with you from time to time. 
You say you desire the ' Band or some of your spirit friends 
to contribute matter that you may publish in your forthcom- 
ing book, that may not only interest, but instruct the readers 
of said book.' 

" Brother, we have said in previous communications all 
that we could in a general way. We have spoken of our man- 
ner of living — of our beautiful home and surroundings, if but 
imperfectly, and were we to do so again it would be but a 
repetition of that already communicated. Had you but. pro- 
pounded questions of a specific nature, we might have re- 
sponded more satisfactorily. Had you but visited the medium 
in person, and then asked your questions as they would most 
naturally suggest themselves to your mind, we might have fur- 
nished you with matter more appropriate to the object you 
seek. 

" Having talked the matter over with your old combating 
friend, Dr. Bond, and Mr. Owen, John Worth Edmonds, Otey 
and Fisk, Parsons and Sehon, Jessie B. Fergufson, and Fletcher, 
we have come to the conclusion your presence is necessary 
in order to get what you so much desire. 
" I subscribe myself, 

"John Wesley, 

"August 7, 1880. for the above-named Band. 

" How little do mortals know concerning the laws of the 
invisible world. J. W.'' 

(389) 



39° The Religion of Spiritualism. 

After we received the foregoing, we decided by our impres- 
sions to go to -Saratoga and see what our friends had to say 
through Dr. Mansfield. 

We had two extended sittings with him, and give the result 
in what follows. We omit what we wrote, and sealed with mucil- 
age and several folds of paper over the writing. Mixing them 
together, we could not tell one from another. 

Some will smile at our credulity, but it is a consolation to know 
that the future will demonstrate the truth or falsehood of these 
communications, and of the subject matter of the book in which 
we claim to have been simply the instrument through which the 
invisibles have spoken -to the Church and the world. Having 
done what we believed to be our duty, we bid an affectionate 
adieu, praying the blessings of our Heavenly Father upon those 
who have followed us through the work committed to our hands : 

" My Dear Brother Watson : — Excuse me for this intru- 
sion, but as our God-gifted Brother John Wesley is not at this 
moment present; I come to advise you of the same. You arc 
doing your work well, so fear not, your reward awaits you. 
Poston and Bond and Scruggs are present. 

"Samuel Gilbert." 

" Thanks ! thanks ! my dear friend and Brother Watson for 
such friendly notice. My mind reverts to days past when I 
took issue with you on matters of evidence we had of immor- 
tality, and particularly that claimed by you and Spiritualists 
generally. But I must confess, and it is so delightful for me to 
do so, since I have been convinced I was in the wrong, and 
you in the right. I was honest in my convictions and in my 
teachings, and never for a moment doubted your sincerity or 
honesty in the departure you took from the M. E. Church, but 
I did think you insane on that point, and for that I labored to 
reclaim one of the brightest minds connected with the M. E. 
Church. But when I reached the spirit-land- 1 at once saw that 
the mote had been in my own eye, that you was right and Bond 
was wrong. It was the happiest day or moment of my exist- 
ence. Watson, thank God your eyes behold so great a salvation. 
Spiritualism is the only ism that proves immortality. 

"T. E. Bond." 

" How- blessed it is to meet thus, dear Brother Watson. For 
a long time I have been anxious to speak with you and yours, 
who I know so well. 



Appendix. 391 

" I have followed you thither, and up and down the world, 
and listened to your conversation, public and private, and 
truly it has given me great pleasure to know that you have been 
so generally received wherever you have traveled, by not only 
the friends of progress, but by the churches generally, since you 
took your leave of the Church : rather the Church from you ; 
for while your ideas become liberalized or strengthened by your 
faith in God, as the evidence you received through your in- 
vestigations, the Church became skeptical and lost sight of the 
teachings of the blessed Jesus and His life, which was given 
for our pattern, and I was almost about to say saints, the Wes- 
leys. But, Brother Watson, you have lived to see the Church 
made more liberal than at the time when you and I, Gilbert 
and Scruggs were in class together. Keep your eye on that 
light within you ; you have nothing to lose, but much to gain; 

" W. K. Poston." 

" Thanks be to God, who has given me victory over the 
grave. I live, Brother Watson, and because I do you will. I 
was with you the other day at camp-meeting, and so was 
Brother Gilbert. It reminded us somewhat of our meetings at 
Methodist camp-meetings more than a score of years since. 
Brother Sehon remarked well, there is no particular difference 
in those meetings from those which were once practiced by the 
Methodist Church, not quite as much shouting, but more en- 
joyable, for while these meetings were usually conducted or 
controlled by a few leading brethren and preachers, they seem 
to all join in preaching and teaching. Well, Brother Samuel, 
you are on the right track. You can and do read your title 
clear from day to day, and therefore have nothing to fear. Be 
guided by that mentor within you and you will never fail of do- 
ing your dut ,T . Your brother, 

" Phineas T. Scruggs." 

" ' Glory to God in the highest ! ' My dear, good Brother 
Watson, could you have known how much myself and our good 
Brother Frazer have followed you about since we left the bodily 
elements of that selfish world, you would not have thought us 
so far from you. 

u Oh, Brother Watson, do you recollect our first talk on the 
subject of spirit communion, and my soliciting you to in- 
vestigate the subject as worthy of your attention, and you ad- 



39 2 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

monishing me to be careful and not leave the old ship which 
had carried you and I over so many a rock-bound shore ? 

" And then again of my inviting you to my house to see my 
friend, a medium, and you admitted then and there to me and 
Nancy that you could believe there was evidence of spirit com- 
munion. 

" Oh, Brother Watson, I only regret that I could not have 
lived to have fought the battles of truth with you. But you 
have not been wanting for aid or instruction from the spirit- 
world. You have, through the assistance of your angel and 
unseen friends, been able to so let your light shine that thou- 
sands date their only evidence of immortality through instruc- 
tions you have given them in your writings and speaking. As 
Brother Scruggs says, you are doing your work well. I would 
say more, but others want the time. Again I say, ' Glory to 
God in the highest ! ' Samuel Gilbert." 

"To say I thank you, Brother Watson, for having made 
respectful and loving notice, but faintly describes my feelings* 
on this occasion. When I look back in the past of our early 
lives, and for a moment consider how we toiled for the good 
of souls, and that, too, sincerely, devoutly, and honestly, I have 
often wondered why it was that the light of Spiritualism had 
not then dawned upon our hearts. But Brother, He who 
knows all things, and who holds all things, animate or inani- 
mate, in His grasp, knows just the time whereat mind would 
Be ready to receive such tidings, as it has been your privilege 
to learn and disseminate. Therefore all things are ordered and 
governed by the good Father, and that, too, in the proper time 
and season. Do not then for a moment falter at the great work 
committed to your care and keeping, but know you that He 
whom you serve and adore will defend you at all times and 
lead you day by day into green pastures. Think for yourself, 
act for yourself, as you must die and give an account for your 
doings. Your brother, 

"C. B. Parsons." 

" Very Dear Brother Watson : — I was informed by my 
friends, S. S. Jones and Eben V. Wilson, that you were talking 
with your Southern friends, but had no idea that you would 
think of me. 

" But, Brother Watson, your call is very acceptable. I know 



Appendix. 393 

of no one whom it could give me more pleasure to take by the 
hand than yourself, for you, like me, enlisted in the great cause 
of truth at a time it tried men's souls to defend it. You, like 
myself, have some scars from the javelins thrown at us, but our 
wounds were but skin deep. 

" I finished my work, and then went to my home in the land 
of souls. You are yet at your post, and, to all appearance, 
may maintain it a score of years yet, but be it as it may, you 
have proved the way acceptably thus far, and grace and strength 
will be given you to finish the track to its distant point. 

u Go on, Brother Watson, and know that those who are with 
you, seen and unseen, are millions to one who may oppose 
you. Your friend and brother, 

u Aug. 19, 1880. Robert Dale Owen." 

" We meet again, arid for which my soul is made happy. I 
always enjoyed your company, and although it was not as fre- 
quent as I would have had it, yet I felt I was made happier 
and wiser for our exchange of thought. 

" Before you sailed for Europe I very well remember that 
call, and was so pleased to be able to place you in such re- 
lations with those of my friends by letter. Well, brother, the 
great and good cause of spirit communion has finally achieved 
a victory over all other isms. It would have nearly spread 
over the world had those who know its truth been faithful to 
its teaching. Nature never errs. God is found in and governed 
by no other than immutable law, and by it the God of nature 
acts. I have been with you often during your hours of medita- 
tion, and not less so in your hours and seasons of teaching to the 
multitudes, and have at times found you even cognizant of the 
fact. Will you go to my summer resort, that was Lake George ? 
If so, I will try and impress you of my presence, etc.; if you speak 
at the meeting I will be with you, and put words into your mouth. 

" Say to friend Ferguson, if you meet him, I am with him 
from time to time ; have had a long talk with his brother and 
son since my arrival here. Your friend and brother, 

' August 19, 1880. John. W. Edmunds." 

" My Dear \Yatson. — However unexpected this notice, 

you have my soul's thanks. I have noticed you sitting with 

the group I so often see about you, but had not the remotest 

idea I should be called to be one of the party. Now, as you 

17* 



394 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

have noticed me, I will say a word by way of endorsing your 
idea of reform generally. What has more than all things else 
pleased me and my friends on this side, is the course you 
have taken to preserve harmony and peace among the Spirit- 
ualists. I need not say how much my soul has been pained 
to see the bickerings, seeming contentions existing between the 
more prominent ones, professing to be spiritual. I am pleased 
to know they see the ill effects of such scolding each other, 
and now seem to get sight of that which has caused so much 
trouble. I hope harmony and peace will be restored. 

"S. S. Jones." 

"As our good brother Otey is not this moment present, 
but away with Bros. Wilber Fisk and Olin, I venture to say 
a few words of my approval of your life's doings, and par- 
ticularly since the light of spirit communion has dawned upon 
your mind. I really ought not to attempt to say anything by 
way addition to the much that has been already given you this 
morning by the other members of the Band, who are with you 
day and night. They have already told that your work or 
labor is in the right direction, and will be, so long as you keep 
your eye on the mark which is before you night and day. You 
don't work by faith alone. Once you did, but lately you have 
worked by sight as well. 

" I have met your dear Mollie, and not long since I met 
'your son and daughter. They are in happy spheres, and so 
rejoiced to know you are permitted to talk with them from 
time to time in your own family circle. The cause of spirit 
communion will very soon displace all the other isms, or so 
much so that it will be the leading ism of the world. Brother 
Charles and I were talking this matter over with others not long 
since, and we were the confident conclusion of the circle, one 
of which was my friend, Swedenborg. I must again beg pardon 
for taking time you intended others should have occupied by 
signing. John Wesley." 

" This is very kind of you, my dear Brother Watson. I am 
not able to say much, as my condition physically, before 
coming over, was so distressing that I feel that the Spirit sym- 
pathizes to a great extent. But I will say that I passed over 
the river which separates that life and this as peacefully as 
one could if he were going to sleep and awaking. Not a 



Appendix. 395 

ripple on the beautiful water ; but all was sunshine there rather 
than darkness, as has been so generally taught and believed. 

" I will tell you much or more of my home after I have more 
fully recruited. 

"Tell Brother Beals that although I was unable to back my 
courage or- rear my tent at Lake Pleasant this season, I have a 
spirit bower here by far more extensive than I could have had 
had I but executed my design. 

" All that I ever preached of spirit-life I find in substance 
true, but the half had not been shown me then. 

" 1 thank the dear brothers and sisters for the respect they 
honor me with in Iheir doings at Lake Pleasant. May God 
bless them as I do. Your friend and brother, 

"E.V. Wilson." 

" Very Dear Brother Watson : — I have to some degree 
anticipated this call, having been notified you would call for 
me by our mutual friend Wilber Fisk. 

"J. D.Andrews, Stephen Olin, Joshua Soul, John A. Wat- 
son, Chas. B. Parsons, W. T. Anderson, Wm. McMahon, 
Daniel Jones, T. E. Bond, and others who are now con- 
gregated to talk with you should time permit. Brother, 
you ought to thank God and the angels from the depths of 
your heart more than you do, if such could be possible, for 
what you now possess, and which the majority of mortals are 
as yet ignorant of," you can truly*say, that as you were once 
blind to this great light of spirit communion, your eyes are 
open to its great and growing truths. Be not in the least dis- 
turbed by the pharisaical cant or moral cowardice you listened 
to last evening, but let it rather strengthen you in your faith of 
spirit-life and spirit-communion. The would-be wise opposers 
of the only evidences of immortality, see too plainly that their 
position is in danger of being displaced by a mighty truth 
which now shakes the foundations of all creeds from center to 
circumference. They die hard, but die they will. Spirit 
communion now has a hold on the thinking era ; even the 
most scientific minds of the age. And such is the progress 
now being made that all others, now antagonistic, must surely 
succumb, then all will see, as from man to man, alike. Again 
I say, brother, be firm and active in dispensing this truth of 
all truths important, wherever you may be. 

" Yours with loving respect, Otey." 



396 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

" Thanks, my dear Brother Watson, for such kind remem- 
brance, and the honor you confer on me by asking my opinion 
of your forthcoming book. I was with you and your friend, 
Crowell, when you were discussing that matter, and so were 
others of the band whom are mentioned in-Bishop Otey's com- 
munication. We think it is just the book for the times, and 
one that will find ready sale. Q. C. Atkinson and Ignatius 
Spaulding, and Bishop Soul, and your old friend Thos. E. 
Bond, say it is by far the most readable book you have pub- 
lished regarding Spiritualism. For my part, I can but endorse 
the conviction of s,o many whose judgment on such matters 
\s so superior to mine. 

ci There comes your friend Wm. K. Poston, who says, 6 Tell 
Brother Watson he fully endorses the conjoint conclusion of 
those men above mentioned.' Again, I thank you for this 
call. C. W. Fletcher." 

" Dear Watson : — As my views have been expressed gener- 
ally in Brother Fletcher's remarks, I will say nothing about the 
book, which will so soon be before the public, further than 
what Brother Fletcher has said, I fully endorse. 

" We were in mass assembled last evening to hear the talk 
by that moral coward,* who, after continuously speaking of Spir- 
itualism, and finding it did not meet with general favor from 
those of his associates — allowed himself to retreat and feel 
sorry for what he had proclaimed after an investigation, which 
he would not gainsay at the time of the investigation. This 
man has disgraced himself in the eyes of all thinking people ; 
in other words, the man — rather this coward — is dead, dead to 
the world at large ; mind what I tell you. 

" Brother, go forward on your mission to ftie people and 
teach harmony, for if there is one failing the Spiritualists have 
more than another, it is inharmony. They should consent to 
agree on general principles, if not in the minutiae. Your course 
is the proper one ; so it appears to me. 

" Yours sincerely, Wilber Fisk." 

" A moment since our mutual friend and co-laborer, Chas. 
B. Parsons, came to me and said, ' Sehon, come, come and 
talk with Bro. Samuel.' At such a summons my soul shouted 
aloud for joy. 



Rev. Joseph Cook. 



Appendix. 397 

" Well, Brother, here I am, and so pleased to meet you 
calling for me, and not less so to know you are yet found alive 
to the great work which you have been so signally called to 
perform. It was but a short time since I was talking with my 
good friend, Bro. Chas. C. Biuning, about the course you 
have pursued since you took your new departure from the 
Church, and how signally your labors had been blessed. Bro. 
Biuning said your book, ' Clock Struck One,' gave him so much 
comfort before he took his departure from the body ! 
Thousands, no doubt, could say the same. Your present or 
forthcoming book is the book of all others, so far as ever hav- 
ing been published by you. Its object is to harmonize the same 
with Christianity, or Christianity with Spiritualism. It is just 
the book for the times. I am yours truly, 

"Aug. 20, 1880. E. W. Sehon." 

" This is more than I had anticipated, but not more than I 
hoped for. I have been anxious to take you by the hand for a 
long time. My mind reverts to my early lectures at dear 
old Memphis, when you and Bro. Gilbert, Dr. Rose, Eleanora 
L. Winchester, and a few others, were all that dared to 
speak of Spiritualism. From these few the seed of truth was 
sown, and, the seed taking root, hundreds, if not thousands 
have sprung into existence, and dare to say they can not only 
believe that spirits not only exist, but do, of a reality, communi- 
cate with earth friends. 

" Bro. Watson, when you and I started out from the Church, 
and dared to proclaim the truth of Spiritualism or spirit com- 
munion, it was about as much as we could do to live among 
mortals. But knowing whereon we stood, and who were not 
only our friends, but guides, we dared to face the opposition 
which we had, and to-day we can see the result of our faith- 
fulness. Go on, and victory is ours. 

" Your Bro., Jesse B. Ferguson." 

li Thanks to God, who giveth us the victory over death and 
the grave. We live and love ; and under favorable conditions 
know each other, and communicate as really as we did when 
with them in the body. 

" Bishop Andrews said to me but a short time since, ' Oh, 
how changed are things of a spiritual nature — nature of the 
after-life. Since I was wont to travel about Dover, Dardanelle, 



398 The Religion of Spiritualism. 

Clarksville, Augusta, and Richmond, then the people walked 
by faith and trust in the promises contained in the Bible. To- 
day they walk by the light of knowledge, or, in other words,* 
they talk with their dear departed as really as they ever 
did while in the body.' Yes, Bro. Watson, you live in an age 
when you can say truly, without a shadow of a doubt, you know 
that your dead ones live beyond the mortal body, and because 
they live you will also. Be, then, of good heart. Keep your 
eye steadily; allow not your nerves to be prostrated at the 
last struggle of those who oppose the only evidence of immor- 
tality ever given to mortals. So pursue your even tenof of 
way, and know you are the watch care of a host who will sup- 
port you. Your forthcoming book will be a success, because 
it is just what the people want. 

" Your Friend and Bro. Wm. T. Anderson." 

" I thank you, dear Bro. Watson, for assuring me I yet have 
a choice place in your loving memory. And, while I do re- 
joice at this opportunity of taking you by the hand again, I 
really do not see what I could say in addition, or at least, by 
way of improvement on what has already been given you by the 
ever watchful band, who have already communicated. I can, 
then, only add, I endorse all that has been offered in favor of 
the forthcoming book, and our general approval comes day by 
day. Your Bro., 

"Aug, 20, 1880. Daniel Jones." 

" This is kind and brotherly of you, my dear Bro. and once 
co-laborer in the cause of our blessed Redeemer. Bro. 
Watson, I recollect you, and our associates, well, and since 
my coming to the world of spirit I have made it in my way to 
be much about you. I am one of those who ever delighteth 
to hover over you, and impress you of what we deem safe for 
to follow. We have it to say you never flinched in the slight- 
est degree from following your impressions, which have been 
forced upon you from the time you promised yourself to your 
God, and He only ; that you would follow the dictates of your 
reason and what you deemed to be impressions of your angel 
guides. Your forthcoming book was dictated by your angel 
friends, and they opine a great sale of the book. 

"Aug. 20, 1880. Your Bro., Wm, McMahon." 



Appendix. 399 

" Dear Bro. Watson : — While I thank you for such respectful 
notice, I find myself in the same pew with that of one brother 
who said he found it impossible to say anything by way of im- 
provement upon that already communicated. I will simply 
say your course of action is, in my mind, the true course, and 
one that will lead our church organization into greater light 
and liberty. What we have been already able to accomplish 
through you, as medium, has so changed the ideas of our 
people, as a sect, that we hardly find a trace of those teachings 
which were so generally accepted at my time of life. Your 
forthcoming book is one at the right time, and will produce not 
only happy results, but will oblige the world to acknowledge 
you a benefactor. Brother, we are with you. 

"Aug. 20, 1880. Joshua Soul." 

At Lake Pleasant camp-meeting Mr. E. V. Wilson was seen 
and recognized by a considerable number of persons at the 
Eddy seances. I attended one of them. He was the first one 
to come out. He looked about as natural as he did when I 
saw him there last year. He spoke distinctly, as in earth-life. 
Said he was permitted to come out first to open the circle. He 
said : " I see by that lady " — pointing to one on the front seat, 
near me — " a boy, her son, who has his nose broken." The 
lady said it was a good test to her. 

He came out afterward, and conversed freely with us. I 
told him I was going to publish his communication he gave me 
through Dr. Mansfield. He replied : " I want you to do it ; 
and also of my appearance here, and the test I gave to the 
lady." He said he was going over the country, wherever he 
could find mediums through whom he could materialize. 

New York, August 31, 1880. S. Watson. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



1 

021 103 666 7 



